When it's time to speak
When the time comes to speak is an unfinished story by Brigitte Reimann , written around 1956 and published posthumously in Berlin in 2003.
Eva Hennig and Klaus Hoffmann, two convinced FDJ functionaries from the class 12a of DDR - high school , get to know and love.
The parent generation
Eva: The father was murdered in the Buchenwald concentration camp . As mayor, the mother hardly has a minute to spend with her daughter.
Klaus: The mother died in the famine year of 1946 while the father was a prisoner of war. After returning home, he took part in the reconstruction of a ruined machine factory. He showed a verve, as if he was building his own business. Klaus lives with his father, a master in mechanical engineering. The father leaves the son alone and drinks. Klaus earns money with tutoring and vacation work in the rolling mill.
Then there is Dr. Rinck, director of the high school. The former SPD member had been the director of a Berlin grammar school before 1933. During the war , the Gestapo detained him in Moabit for a political joke . Eva's father had been one of the inmates. He'd rather let the henchmen mutilate his face beyond recognition than betray someone. Dr. Rinck was released and had remained silent until May 5, 1945. On May 6, he drove towards a Red Army tank head and surrendered the small town. Now, as a SED member, he heads the high school.
content
Eva was born in Paris on October 3, 1935. When her mother, a comrade, becomes mayor of the scene on behalf of the party , Eva enters class 12a and sits next to Klaus, the 18-year-old first secretary of the FDJ at the school. Soon the 17-year-old girl will be called to the director. Dr. Rinck would like Eva to stimulate work in the FDJ school group. She is predestined for something like that. Eva wears the “ badge for good knowledge ” in gold. She starts with the wall decorations in the school hall. A picture of Stalin is already hanging. The class 12b - budding scientists - act like a horde of monkeys. The boys imitate jazz musicians in the classroom . Eva speaks to the conscience of those out of control. Klaus is amazed. While his slogans are laughed at, those from 12b listen to the arguments of the mayor's daughter. When Eva and Klaus are out of sight of the 12b, she laughs at her new comrade's thrashing of phrases, but then she lifts her index finger. As the first secretary, he could not be taken seriously with his gossip.
Eva turns out to be a dazzling Latin woman. Klaus builds fours in the subject. He would like her to speak to him during the oral performance assessment. Eva refuses, but wants to do the Latin homework together with Klaus in the future.
When the FDJ work is being talked about in the FDJ room, Eva seizes the leadership, but finally sinks into the "quicksand of phrases". Opposition - concerning the voluntary nature of the FDJ work - stirs. The students feel comfortable with Dr. Rinck blackmailed. An ancient story is being unearthed. In autumn 1948 the student Kurt Hansen and his parents had disappeared from the scene. Kurt had been taken away from school. The director had skillfully used the incident as an opportunity to force the students into the FDJ.
When it comes to collecting the FDJ membership fees in 12b, Eva cannot muster up any understanding for the dogged resistance of schoolmates. As the mayor's only daughter, she has no financial worries.
It doesn't stop at doing the Latin homework together. Eva, who admits to Klaus that she always looks forward to seeing him, lets her new friend take her to the Kakadu-Bar. Both drink several Nikolashkas. The cursed solitude finally brings Eva and Klaus together.
shape
The fragment breaks off after the 6th chapter. Although the love story is told in a way that can be relived, some of the things addressed remain - how could it be otherwise with a fragment - as it were hanging in the air. For example, as director Dr. When Rinck finishes the above-mentioned audience, he gives Eva a piece of paper. It says “1. Corinthians 13: 1 "
reception
- The title reminds me of Hemingway . Brigitte Reimann processed experiences from her Burger high school days.
literature
- Text output used
- When the time is to speak ... narration. P. 135–208 in: “Brigitte Reimann: The girl on the lotus flower. Two unfinished novels. ”(Also contains: Joe and the girl on the lotus flower , afterword by Withold Bonner, documents on the history of the publication and an editorial note) Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 2005 (first printing 2003). ISBN 3-7466-2139-9
Remarks
- ↑ The story is therefore in 1952.
- ↑ Nikolaschka. Really pleasurable drinking of the East Prussian cocktail requires a certain level of tongue dexterity: 1. Put a lemon wedge, sprinkled with clear sugar and powder from freshly ground coffee beans, into your mouth. 2. Drink a glass of brandy very slowly, straining it.
- ↑ "If I spoke with the tongues of men and angels, and if I did not have love, I would be a resounding bronze or a ringing bell." (The Luther Bible, edition anno 1912: 1. Corinthians - Chapter 13, The Song of Songs Love 1)