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Germany Then & Now - hosted by imaginary_space

German Democratic Republic (1950-1990) and Post-Unification (after 1990)
📌 Read a Socialist Realism book or one written about the GDR by an author from the GDR! 📌

The GDR declared itself the cultural heir of the communist resistance to Nazism, so get into the literary style we call Socialist Realism.
You can also find works written by authors in the GDR that could only get published in West Germany or works that were published about the GDR and unification after 1990. All of those count for this prompt.

Notable authors & works:
  • Christa Wolf: Der geteilte Himmel (🔹 Divided Heaven) // Was bleibt (🔹 What Remains)
  • Erwin Strittmatter: 🔹 Ole Bienkopp
  • Monika Maron: Stille Zeile Sechs (🔹 Silent Close No. Six)
  • Reiner Kunze: Deckname "Lyrik" (🔹 Code Name 'Lyric')
  • Thomas Brussig: Helden wie wir (🔹 Heroes Like Us)
  • Thomas Hettche: Nox (🔹 Night)
  • Bertolt Brecht: Der gute Mensch von Sezuan (🔹 The Good Person of Szechwan)
  • Bruno Apitz: Nackt unter Wölfen (🔹 Naked Among Wolves)
  • Stefan Heym: Schatten und Licht. Geschichten aus einem geteilten Lande
  • Ulrich Plenzdorf: Die neuen Leiden des jungen W. (🔹 The New Sufferings of Young W.)
  • Sarah Kirsch: Zaubersprüche
All books added
Time of Desperation: The Story of an Escape from the German Democratic Republic by Jürgen Mann

Time of Desperation: The Story of an Escape from the German Democratic Republic

Jürgen Mann

406 pages • first pub 2012 (editions) user-added

fiction autobiography contemporary thriller
Der gute Mensch von Sezuan by Bertolt Brecht

Der gute Mensch von Sezuan

Bertolt Brecht

224 pages • first pub 1953 (editions)

fiction classics play challenging dark slow-paced
Stille Zeile Sechs by Monika Maron

Stille Zeile Sechs

Monika Maron

224 pages • first pub 1991 (editions)

fiction informative reflective medium-paced
Was bleibt by Christa Wolf

Was bleibt

Christa Wolf

92 pages • first pub 1990 (editions)

fiction literary dark informative reflective medium-paced
The New Sufferings of Young W. by Ulrich Plenzdorf, Kenneth P. Wilcox

The New Sufferings of Young W.

Ulrich Plenzdorf, Kenneth P. Wilcox

84 pages • first pub 1972 (editions)

fiction classics reflective medium-paced
Nox by Thomas Hettche

Nox

Thomas Hettche

137 pages • first pub 1995 (editions)

medium-paced
Heroes Like Us by Thomas Brussig

Heroes Like Us

Thomas Brussig

272 pages • first pub 1995 (editions)

fiction funny slow-paced
Ole Bienkopp by Erwin Strittmatter
Ole Bienkopp
—
Erwin Strittmatter

Ole Bienkopp

Erwin Strittmatter

418 pages • first pub 1963 (editions)

medium-paced