The wall stands on the Rhine

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The wall stands on the Rhine. Germany after the victory of socialism is an alternative historical novel by the author Christian v. Ditfurth , in which a reverse reunification of Germany and its consequences is described. It was published by Kiepenheuer & Witsch in 1999.

The fictional reality of this novel begins shortly before the fall of the Wall in the GDR (around 1987) and then begins, initially very gently, to deviate from the historical facts. The novel is written from the perspective of a West German ex-sports reporter from the Rheinische Post , who went into exile in Switzerland due to the political circumstances in the new Germany and looks back at the events. The work is presented as a book that the editor in question wrote in exile to make people in the western world aware of the situation in Germany.

action

In 1988 the Soviet politician Gorbachev , who wanted to reform the Soviet Union, was overthrown by the Stalinists , and the Cold War was not ended. The Soviet Union stands up so the upgrade price of the NATO counter and demands packaged in a threatening scenario, a new, final security architecture.

In order not to let a major war break out, the United States, Great Britain and France give in to the Soviet demands and sign the so-called Geneva Treaty, which obliges the two German states to reunify in the form of a federation and entrusts the supervision of the unification process to the Soviet Union which is allowed to station troops in West Germany, while the Western Allies have to withdraw their soldiers from there.

After the negotiations between the FRG and the GDR, Germany was finally reunified on October 3, 1990 and was given the new name "Democratic Republic of Germany" (DRD). The form of government of the federation should initially leave the systems of the two states untouched, but gradually more and more powers have to be transferred to the central government.

In the three years after unification, immense political, economic and social change takes place in the former FRG. Under the pretext of fighting “subversive activity” and crime, the Green Party leadership is imprisoned and the FRG border is fortified. The GDR leadership gradually eroded the political system of West Germany through subversive activities. When most of the former leaders of the major West German parties were imprisoned or emigrated, they were pushed to join the Democratic Bloc . In 1992, the government, now dominated by the GDR, suddenly nationalized the banking system and large companies, which triggered a massive economic crisis. Many people had already emigrated beforehand or were taken to new internment camps because of resistance against the new rulers . Despite all the measures, an uprising finally broke out in West Germany in April 1993, which was bloodily suppressed by the Soviet occupation forces. The so-called April crisis leads to an intensification of the repression measures, but also forces Erich Honecker to resign.

After all, the government can accomplish reunification in any way. The SPD was absorbed into the SED at the end of 1994 after the other West German parties had already joined the “Democratic Bloc”. Then the federal states are dissolved and replaced by districts . At the time of the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the unification, the political, economic and social system of the GDR was practically completely transferred to the former FRG. However, the change was not only driven by GDR giants; Former members of West German parties such as Peter Boenisch as Minister of Information or Karsten D. Voigt as Prime Minister also belong to the government of reunified Germany.

Reviews, press reviews

"A breathtaking read"

- Ralph Giordano, Die Zeit 34/1999

“Thank goodness just a nightmare. But what a guy! "

- Rainer Eppelmann, Der Spiegel 41/1999

“[…] Von Ditfurth proves in this novel that he understands his craft both as a historian and as a writer. His utopia lives from the imagination, but is always well underpinned by real historical lines of development. His writing style finds just the right balance between a sober description of the fictional state and satire. In a very special way, 'The Wall stands on the Rhine' is the novel about German unity - the real socialist alternative to Thomas Brussig . "

- Dominik Asef : Fuldaer Zeitung, January 22, 2000

The author offers an overview of further reviews about the book on his website (see web links ).

people

In the book, in addition to completely fictional ones, a number of protagonists are given the names of people who were politically active in recent German history or are still active today, such as Erich Honecker , Helmut Kohl , Wolfgang Schäuble , Joschka Fischer , Gerhard Schröder , Oskar Lafontaine , Jürgen Möllemann etc.

expenditure

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ralph Giordano: The red turning point! In: The time . No. 34/1999 ( online ).
  2. ^ Rainer Eppelmann .: UNIT: Nightmare of the turning point . In: Der Spiegel . No. 41 , 1999 ( online - 11 October 1999 ).

Web links