Children holding up German

In Germany, a post-communist generation searches for identity

Born before the Berlin Wall fell, the children of the

“Third Generation East” were too young to be involved in the events

of 1989. Now they’re trying to understand how their families lived under

communist dictatorships.

Children holding up German flags in blurry focus (Privat)

I started school in 1990, in Bonn. It was a year after the

fall of the Berlin Wall; Germany’s reunification came a few weeks later. My

impressions of that first day of school combine the black, red and gold of the

German flag with my pink paper cone filled with presents, along with a nervous

stomach. It’s all a bit foggy, just like my memories of childhod before the

fall of the Wall — my time in the East. I was born in the socialist People’s

Republic of Bulgaria, and I learned to walk in East Germany.

I remember one thing clearly: The sound of change was in the

air. It could be heard in kitchen conversations, was whispered in small talk

with the neighbors, written in letters to my grandparents in Bulgaria and

discussed on the news. It all conveyed mixed feelings of uncertainty and

optimism.

But after the Iron Curtain came down, everyone went silent.

It’s as if the generation of my parents and grandparents had decided from one

day to the next to pack their past in a box and hide it in the darkest corner

of the attic. It remained untouched for a long time.

But it’s happening now. Those parents’ and grandparents’

memories are being shaken by the question of their now grown-up

post-reunification children. Did they believe in socialism? What did they do?

How did they live? What did they want to become? What did they dream of? What

made them happy? What did they lack?

German unification — time for the next generation to step up

A person standing in front of remains of the Berlin Wall

(DW/H. Rawlinson)

How was it for you, dear parents? What did you think? What

did you do?

These questions have little to do with nostalgia. Rather,

it’s that this younger generation hopes to understand the country where their

parents and grandparents grew up, the country where they also come from. But

even cautious questions may lead to an emotionally defensive reaction. Why is

that the case? Is it possible for us to gain access to our parents’ past

experiences? Do our parents have the right to forget or the responsibility to

talk?

Buchcover Nachwendekinder

‘Nachwendekinder’ refers to children who grew up in the

years following the fall of communism

Talk to us!

These are also the questions that Johannes Nichelmann asks

in his book, Die Nachwendekinder: Die DDR, unsere Eltern und das große

Schweigen (literally “Post-Communist-Transition Children: The GDR, Our

Parents and the Great Silence”).

“I’ve noticed that many people of my generation who

were born in the East are trying to find out more about that East that shaped

them,” Nichelmann told DW.

Influenced by the media stories told after 1990 and by what

they learned in history classes, the so-called Third Generation East children

now want to fill the void in their own biographies.

Nichelmann remembers the day when he and his brother found

their father’s military uniform in the basement. They previously didn’t even

know that he had been a border guard in the communist German Democratic

Republic (GDR).

“My father was the trigger for my book. Until recently,

he had never revealed a single thing about his life in East Germany. He would

actually become very angry if I asked him anything at all. I realized that

something was wrong, that it was something he didn’t want to deal with. That

obviously got me imagining all kinds of things.”