Herlz is one of the main characters of the seventh Felidae novel, Felipolis. He is a Chartusian tomcat of Austrian origin who speaks with a strict Austrian dialect.
Appearances in Felipolis[]
First Meeting[]
Herlz is met by Francis inside Domino's villa gardens after both cats are attracted by the news of Domino's inheritance. Herlz displays a friendly behavior and proves to be a clever and intellectual cat just as Francis, being interested about the question of the inheritance given to an animal like the cat Domino.
When Francis investigates and gets himself inside a pool full with large and dangerous koi fishes, Herlz and Josef manage to drag the detective into safety.
After a failed plot by Clint and his companions to kill Francis, he meets Herlz again when he remains alone after rejecting the support of his friends so that not to put their lives in danger. Herlz displays kindness toward Francis and shows him the camps of the human protestants of the animalist radical group "Animal Army", and then helps Francis to find shelter there.
Revelations[]
However, what seems to be friendly help turns to be something more ominous because Francis realizes too late that the "shelter" was in fact the inside of a balloon, to be conducted in air by the human leader of the Animal Army for a choreographic protest on the roof of the villa. The human is then killed by a mysterious aggressor and the life of Francis is put in danger by the risk of the balloon crashing.
While investigating inside the villa, Francis discover the kinship between Domino and Herlz. The pretty she-cat is actually the daughter of the Austrian cat and both are revealed to work on the Felipolis project, being also responsible for the killings to accomplish their ideals.
Eventual Destiny[]
When Francis faces both Domino and Herlz in front of a crowd of cats, the detective is surprised to find Herlz's dream being not so different from his own deep desires: the Austrian cat was dreaming of creating a true independent nation for cats, able to live their lives separated from humans, and with the help of the money inherited by Domino, they were going to achieve this "Felipolis" with the help of the human Marc Forster, a former student in zoology who was aware of the cats' intelligence.
But Herlz had not expected the human greed, and despite Francis's warnings, he didn't foresee Marc's betrayal until it's too late: the human and his followers had trapped all the cats gathered to travel to "Felipolis" into an abandoned Academy that has a crematorium chamber. There both Herlz and his daughter Domino are betrayed and forced inside the chamber by Marc, who kills them by activating the burning mechanism.
Legacy[]
Herlz's dream is destined to remain unaccomplished. Even if the cats, led by Francis and Sancta, manage to reach Koroyama island by plane, this paradisiac island in the Indian Ocean manages to be only a temporary holiday for the cats before their human owners organize the recovery of the animals.
Name Meaning and Significance[]
In the novel there is a direct mention that Herlz earned his name after Theodor Herlz, the father of the Sionist movement. The actions of Herlz reflect a Zionist dream of searching a Promised Land that was done by Jewish settlers in Palestine at the beginning of the last century.
Herlz's actions in the book are conducted by an intense desire to find a home for his species in a way similar to that of the human Zionist movement before the founding of Israel state. It's also sadly ironic that his demise is similar to the one of so many Jews during the extermination under the Nazism.
However, it's important to note that this parallelism is not to be seen as an "anti-Semitic" element, because indeed Herlz and Francis share the same desire and Francis understands Herlz's actions, even if he disapproves and fight them.