Hendrik Bicknäse

School essay against the Cold War

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In his autofictional novel "DEUTSCHARBEIT" , author Hendrik Bicknäse, a poet of the anti-authoritarian movement, recounts his life as a son between 1947 and 1968, a period of resistance, experimentation, and a spirit of new beginnings, characterized by lively discussions and a great thirst for new experiences in a world that was simultaneously very confining.

 

The novel's title comes from a German essay written by the then-teenage author during the Cold War, which explored the possibility of reunification between West and East Germany as a concrete utopia. In this essay, written in 1964, the schoolboy Bicknäse developed a vision of the future in which ordinary people, not governments, would bring about reunification. Later, his contact across the German-German border leads to an almost incomprehensible arrest by the West German state security service; an incident that sheds light on a long-suppressed aspect of German-German history, one that has never been properly addressed in the Federal Republic.

German family history from both East and West forms the framework for this autofictional novel, in which Hendrik Bicknäse brings his life to life and, in doing so, chronicles the feelings of the postwar generation and paints a portrait of cultural and political change.

 

"DEUTSCHARBEIT" is a worthwhile read for people from both East and West!