Erich Loest

He didn’t want to let himself be impressed by crowds and bustle, it was like that every day in Hamburg or Düsseldorf. The posters and the flags he encountered on the way seemed awkward and to be trying too hard. All the trams displayed pennants, the city radio blared from loudspeakers: The trade fair halls open from – until; a special service direct to the trade fair grounds. Bornowski’s photographic equipment weighed him down but the holdall was light. He didn’t need more than three shirts and a pullover for such a short time, he rubbed the brown-coal dirt from his collar every evening in the wash-basin anyway. From the main railway station he hobbled the short distance to the hotel. Just look, even in the city centre the litter bins were overflowing. Why had he come here, if he was so determined to be irritated by every single thing right from the start? His boss was right: If there’s someone who’s masochistically carrying a barrel-load of prejudices along with him, then it’s Linus Bornowski, the lad from Bautzen.

He picked up the ‘Leipziger Volkszeitung’ in the hotel lobby and took it up to his room. Leipzig was a world centre of trade, bringing the peoples together, promised the lead article. “Erich Honecker and Johannes Rau – premier of the west German state of North-Rhine Westphalia – welcomed the opportunities for a renewed exchange of views on international issues and relations…” The rest was more concrete: “Erich Honecker stressed, that the GDR supported the unilateral disarmament measures of the USSR. The first Soviet units would already be withdrawn this year. In order to materially demonstrate its will to disarm, the GDR had taken the decision to reduce the National People’s Army by 10,000 men and defence expenditure by 10 per cent by the end of 1990. The GDR expected the Federal Republic to follow these examples. It was important to ensure that both military alliances were purely defensive.” Erich Honecker declared, Erich Honecker stressed – and Rau? Finally: “Both sides referred to the good relations between the GDR and North-Rhine Westphalia as confirmed by the major cultural presence of North-Rhine Westphalia in Leipzig planned for November 1980. They agreed to take further steps in this direction.” The premier was accompanied by his cabinet ministers Herr Bertele, Herr Jochimsen, Herr Farthmann and Herr Clement as well as Frau Anke Brunn. Nothing behind the scenes or behind closed doors? He shouldn’t always be imputing deals between the comrades of SPD and SED. The Central Committee of the Party and the State Council congratulated Christa Wolf on her 60th birthday, she would present her ‘Summer Piece’ during the fair. Stefan Heym was reading from ‘The Wandering Jew’. Heiner Müller, Urs Widmer, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Konstantin Wecker and Golo Mann were coming. ‘From the literature of the Federal Republic’ a volume of short prose by Uwe Johnson was being published for the first time. Towards the back of the paper: “The armed organs of the Federal Republic have the right to open fire.”