Remembering the Socialist Past - Bad request! - University of Exeter

ack on his childhood in East Germany. (Wende literally means ‘turn’ or ‘change’;
the term refers to the collapse of the GDR and the subsequent process of German
unification.) He describes the experience of growing up in a rural area in West
Saxony under quite deprived conditions. His narrative is not confined to personal
memories, however, but also includes historical background about various political
developments and events, for example the general strike in 1953, of which he had
only limited knowledge or awareness of at the time. Kusserow’s family opposed
many of the values and ideas promoted by the state; in the narrative the GDR is
clearly perceived as a totalitarian state. Because Kusserow escaped from the GDR
aged fifteen, his account takes a slightly different perspective from the other texts,
in that he is not telling his story as a former East German in reunified Germany.
16
Wenn ich groß bin, flieg ich zu den Sternen (1998) by Kathrin Aehnlich (b.
1957) is a novel set in Leipzig in the 1960s. 13 The text is narrated in the first
person, mostly conveying the child’s perspective, but occasionally also an adult
retrospective perspective. The story describes a relatively normal East German
childhood and youth. The protagonist’s family is outwardly conformist, although not
always so in private. In this novel, intertextual references to children’s and popular
culture (some, but not all, specific to the GDR) as well as inclusion of many
different forms of discourse, for example, official slogans of the Young Pioneers or
German proverbs and songs, create a vivid portrayal of the many influences on a
child in the GDR and provide many opportunities for the former East German reader
to recognise and identify with common experiences.
Meine freie deutsche Jugend (2003) by Claudia Rusch (b. 1971) gives an
autobiographical account of the author’s childhood, living initially on the island of
Rügen, and then in Berlin. 14 The focus of the narrative is her childhood and teenage
years, although throughout the text she also includes description of experiences
13 Kathrin Aehnlich, Wenn ich groß bin, flieg ich zu den Sternen (Munich: Piper, 2009).
14 Claudia Rusch, Meine freie deutsche Jugend (Frankfurt am Main: Fischer, 2005).