The Living Remnants of the Berlin Wall in Germany's Borderless Literature

Germany celebrated the thirty-fifth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall this year, a significant moment in 20th-century world history, amid a serious political crisis faced by its government, with the threats posed by far-right policies feeling more pronounced than ever. The epicenter of these crises is particularly in areas previously known as 'East Germany,' leading some observers, including German writers, to regard this reunification, over three decades later, as not a failure but an unsuccessful attempt to achieve all its goals. However, as Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated last week during the anniversary ceremony, the values and lessons of 1989 should not be taken for granted. German writers, from the most famous to the younger generation, have well reflected these values and lessons in German literature. Germany experienced significant events in the 20th century: two world wars, division, and then the reunification of the western and eastern parts of Germany. The fall of the Berlin Wall, both visually and mentally, symbolized the Cold War and the division between the Western bloc and the Soviet Union, paving the way for the end of this war and the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the reunification of Germany. The novel 'The Honest Killers' by Ingo Schulze, although written long before, was inspired by the fall of the Berlin Wall, creating a unique type of literature that had not existed before. The term Wenderoman ('turning point novel'), which emerged in 1989, designates a genre of German literature that is new in terms of content and form and closely related to the reunification of Germany. Mahmoud Hosseinizadeh, a writer and translator of German-language literature, told Radio Farda that post-fall literature particularly addresses the past and present lives of Germans on both sides of the fallen wall. Hosseinizadeh is currently translating the novel 'The Honest Killers' by Ingo Schulze, which deals with the topic of the Berlin Wall's fall. This novel, published in Germany in 2020, features Norbert Paulini, the main character, an antique dealer in Dresden known for his interest in old and rare books across East Germany. Literature lovers know they can always find new treasures on his shop's shelves. However, after the fall of the Berlin Wall in the autumn of 1989, politics takes over everything, rare book customers dwindle, and later, the internet becomes his main competitor. Paulini resists to save his business, but a kind of dark-minded thinking seems to have overtaken his spirit. The main question in this novel is how a humanist in East Germany has turned into a reactionary or even revolutionary after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Habib Hosseinizadeh, a political analyst in Germany, also explains to Radio Farda that post-fall literature shows how much the people on both sides of the wall have been strangers to each other. He refers to the novel 'The Wide Plain' by Günter Grass, the Nobel Prize-winning German author, published in 1997. This novel, which depicts contemporary German history up to the time of reunification after the fall of the Berlin Wall, stirred significant controversy in the country, as this great German writer did not hesitate to express his criticisms of the situation of some East German citizens who, according to him, had become 'hostages of the economic model of West Germany.' The publication of this novel led German media to harshly criticize Günter Grass, accusing him of 'not loving his homeland.' What German literature shows us is that the problems related to the fall of the Berlin Wall continue even after three decades. One can also observe a reflection of the separation and then reunification of the two Germanys in the works of non-German writers who fled their own communist regimes. The works of these writers offer a different perspective on contemporary Germany. Overall, German literature after the fall of the Berlin Wall, beyond its political and historical themes, also has philosophical aspects regarding the human condition. These features allow this part of German literature to transcend its borders and become global.