A chapter of its own (novel)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A chapter of its own is the title of an autobiographical novel by Walter Kempowski published in 1975 and part of his nine-part series of novels Deutsche Chronik .

action

The novel tells from three different first-person perspectives of imprisonment in the Soviet occupation zone and then the later GDR . Kempowski's mother Grethe tells how her sons Walter and Robert were arrested by Russian soldiers in 1948. They illegally brought documents about the dismantling in the Soviet occupation zone to Wiesbaden and handed them over to the Americans. Later, the mother is arrested and sentenced to ten years imprisonment for complicity. Her two sons are each sentenced to 25 years in prison. The circumstances of the arrest, the interrogations and, above all, the prison conditions in Hoheneck and the Bautzen correctional facility are shown alternately from the perspective of the mother and one of the two sons . The focus of the narration is on portraying the people in detention and the strategies they use to endure and survive imprisonment. Above all, the relationship between the two brothers is self-critically and ironically reflected. Letters that relatives of the Kempowskis send to each other during this time are also switched on. The novel ends with Walter's release after eight years in prison.

structure

The novel is divided into five parts, which are preceded by quotes from anonymous prisoners and which deal with the individual steps from arrest through the stages of imprisonment to release. It ends with an epilogue .

Book editions

filming

The novel was filmed in 1979 as a chapter for itself by Eberhard Fechner .