The confession (Brigitte Reimann)
The confession is a story by Brigitte Reimann that was published in 1960 by Aufbau-Verlag in Berlin.
content
In 1959, VEB Maschinenbau in M. wants to delegate one of its workers, Martin D., born on March 30, 1930, to study as a teacher. Before that - on May 15, 1959 at 3 p.m. - Martin seeks public prosecutor K., head of the district attorney M.'s. The prospective teacher student wants to clear the table; must make a confession. He was encouraged to take this step by his bride Karla, an inconspicuous 18-year-old seamstress. The young girl with the soft gray eyes holds on to her bridegroom; accompanies him to room 212 and waits in the corridor for four hours.
As a 15-year-old Martin was put into the brown uniform. The guard of the Hitler Youth with a white armband was at the station. On the premises of the freight yard, he tracked down a deserted member of the Wehrmacht and forced him to leave his shelter at gunpoint. Martin had handed the man over to a patrol from the military police. Brigitte Reimann says that deserters were shot or hanged at the end of April 1945.
Prosecutor K. has Martin sign the protocol, sends him out of the room and calls in two colleagues. The result of the consultation: no procedure will be initiated. Because Martin has volunteered and has proven to be a useful member of society over the past fourteen years. He's allowed to go home with Karla.
shape
Martin confesses to examining magistrate K. for a whopping four hours with lengthy detours, what a capable fellow he was after 1945. He had cleared away the rubble in the bombed city, he had continuously trained in his profession, he had revitalized the FDJ group in his VEB from 1950 and so on. At first, Brigitte Reimann's construction seems almost ridiculous. It is about "aiding and abetting murder". But the decision of the three public prosecutors can only be understood if Martin's will to rebuild from 1945 to 1959 is factored in.
The story is cleverly constructed. Martin's offense is only revealed at the end of the text. In addition, the lecture takes place on several levels. Martin's story - told on the main level, as it were - was roughly sketched above. Then there is the level where Karla is waiting behind the office door, worth mentioning. And the story of true love after Martin's disappointment with other young girls is also presented on an extra level.
Public Prosecutor K. lets Martin talk and talk ad nauseam. Martin is seldom interrupted; once with the question about June 17, 1953 . Brigitte Reimann devotes two pages to the uprising. At such points the reader pays attention and has to admit afterwards that the pathos (see below) is accounted for, Martin tells credibly.
interpretation
How the worker boy Martin describes the reconstruction after 1945 in his mechanical engineering company, going from apprentice to skilled worker with master's examination, that strains the nerves even of the more patient modern reader.
reception
- Brigitte Reimann saw Martin's confession of sins - as the main motive - from the Bible . Confession precedes absolution. The author is still unreservedly in favor of the GDR. Wiesener cannot hear critical undertones in this early story.
literature
Text output
- First edition
- Brigitte Reimann: The confession . Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 1960. 88 pages
- Used edition
- The confession. Pp. 133–197 in: Brigitte Reimann. The woman in the pillory . The confession. The siblings . 352 pages. New life publishing house, Berlin 1969, linen
Secondary literature
- Barbara Wiesener: About the pale princess who kidnapped a purple horse across the sky - the utopian in Brigitte Reimann's work. Univ. Diss. Dr. phil., Potsdam 2003, 236 pages
Remarks
- ↑ With the GDR district capital M. an der Elbe (edition used, p. 157, 14. Zvo) only Magdeburg can be meant.
- ↑ Martin relates: "... that a work now belonged to the people ... that we had new rights, also new duties." (Edition used, p. 162, 9th Zvo)