LIFE IN THE GDR: LAURA’S LITERATURE AND MOVIE TIPS
Our team member Laura is not only a wonderful teacher but also a real expert on the topic of the German division and its representation in different media.
Germany as we know it today is just about 30 years old. Accordingly, the division and reunification of the country is present in literature, series, movies or podcasts and many German biographies.
We are very happy that Laura took the time to pick some of her absolute favorites and presents little summaries to give our community the possibility to learn more about this special chapter of German history from different perspectives.
Laura’s recommendations cover quite different genres and topics – some are more autobiographical, others fictional. The books deal with music, the first great love, racism and rebellion in the GDR.
Especially in Berlin the german division is still omnipresent despite the reunification over 30 years ago.
Due to it’s special role Berlins cityscape is still marked by many places visualizing the seperation of the city, such as the East Side Gallery, the GDR Museum or the Hohenschönhausen Memorial. These places give us insight into life in divided Germany, especially in the GDR.
In recent years, a number of novels, films and series have been published that give an impression of life in the „East“ of Germany.
Some of Laura’s recommended movies and series are real classics, others are new. The Balloon from 2018, for example, is based on real events. Some of the films like The Lifes of Others focus on the restrictive living conditions in the DDR, others like Goodbye Lenin or Sonnenallee have a lighter and more fictional and comedic approach.
The podcasts Laura recommends are mostly biographic and shed light on the complex living conditions in the DDR. In Mensch Mutta the journalist Katharina Thoms reflects on her childhood in the DDR, her mother and their little fights in everyday life.
But read for yourself what Laura recommends here:
Recommended books
– The novels by Thomas Brussig, for example Beste Absichten or Das gibts in keinem Russenfilm.
Brussig has a very humorous way of storytelling and makes life and growing up in the GDR a theme in each of his novels.
In Das gibts in keinem Russenfilm he spins the idea that the fall of the Wall would never have happened and sketches life in a divided Germany in the 1990s. Beste Absichten is about a 1980s GDR indie band that produces music against all odds in times of social and personal change.
– The novels of Grit Poppe, for example Weggesperrt.
Her books are aimed at young readers (ages 14 and up), so they contain a somewhat less complex vocabulary.
Weggesperrt is about 14-year-old Anja, whose mother is arrested and locked away by the Stasi. As a result, Anja is sent to a supervised living institution called „Jugendwerkhof“. What she experiences there is described by Grit Poppe in this and the following novel Abgehauen.
– Skizze eines Sommers by André Kubiczek accompanies 16-year-old René for one summer.
It’s 1985 in Potsdam: René’s mother is dead, his father is in Switzerland and René is alone at home with 1000 „Mark“. The novel is about self-discovery, the first love and real friendships. Skizze eines Sommers is a feel-good novel that tells the life of a teenager in the GDR without focussing on the political situation of the GDR.
– Olivia Wenzel’s 1000 Serpentinen Angst does not exclusively describe life in the GDR. It’s also about home, origin and loss, about racism and sexism, East and West. The novel deals with the growing up as a black child in the 1980s, but also about her mother, who didn’t have it easy as a single system rebel in the GDR. All these different themes are skillfully interwoven, so that the novel does not seem overloaded at all.
Recommendations on films, series and podcasts
– The film Balloon (2019) tells the story of two families who flew across the German-German border in a homemade hot air balloon in 1979. The film is based on true events and although it is quite long, the tension never sags at any point.
– Two absolute classics that should not be missing from the list: The Lives of Others and Goodbye, Lenin!. Das Leben der Anderen deals with the surveillance state of the GDR, while in Goodbye, Lenin! the protagonist Alex has to conceal the fact that the Wall has fallen from his mother, who is in poor health, after she awakens from her coma.
– The series Deutschland 83/86/89 is about the young spy Martin Rauch, who is sent to the West to uncover NATO’s plans. What he experiences as an undercover agent is told in a total of three seasons.
– If you like listening to podcasts, one of those might be interesting for you:
Staatsbürgerkunde – Ein Podcast über das Leben in der DDR, the ZEIT podcast series Wie war das im Osten? (available on Spotify) or Mensch Mutta.
– Interesting events about film, literature and life in the GDR take place regularly at the DDR Museum. Find all details here.
