Erich Loest

Erich Loest’ novel Nikolaikirche sketches in epic strokes the collapse of the GRD, with the focus on Leipzig. But the frame of the novel is broader and decidedly includes West Germany; the policy of détente, the Western press, social democracy and the CDU are constantly part of it. One of Loest’s particular themes is the Western weakness in perceiving the decay of the GDR. Western media were incapable of a serious criticism of the status quo: it was regarded as the Cold War. Loest throws light on the transitions in East/West relations. He shows how détente degenerates into appeasement, into a realpolitik that recognises only economic interests and kowtows before the so-called facts. [...] Loest tells how non-violent resistance shook an internally well-armed dictatorship and contributed in the end to its fall.

Erich Loest – Biography

Horst Domdey: „Helden müssen nicht sein. Zivilcourage bringt viel weiter"
© Der Tagesspiegel, 12.08.1995