Generation GDR
Truth, Freedom and One Man's Last Journey
- Paperback
336 pages
- Release Date
11 November 2025
Summary
A gripping account of East Germany in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, and of one man’s fated struggle for freedom.
Friday, April 10th, 1981: 23-year-old Mathias Domaschk boards the fast train from Jena to Berlin, on his way to a birthday party. But he never arrives …
The packed train is held up en route, and Mathias and three of his friends are apprehended, suspected of being part of a cell intent on disrupting the socialist party congress. Forty-eight hours later he is dead, fo…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781529435207 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 152943520X |
| Author: | Peter Wensierski, Jamie Bulloch |
| Publisher: | Quercus Publishing |
| Imprint: | MacLehose Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 336 |
| Release Date: | 11 November 2025 |
| Weight: | 420g |
| Dimensions: | 232mm x 152mm x 30mm |
What They're Saying
Critics Review
Generation GDR is a historical detective story about the tragic death of one young East German in 1981 but also much more than that. It shows how the socialist dictatorship destroyed its own future by destroying its youth. An important counterweight to the rose-tinted nostalgia for the GDR – Frank Trentmann, author of Out of the Darkness: The Germans, 1942–2022.
An awe-inspiring book * ZDF Heute *
Wensierski’s descriptions infuse his book with haunting authenticity * Die Welt *
The concept of the book is on point, and it’s a terrific read. It is breathtaking. […] Wensierski’s book will be the benchmark for any future work on the subject * MDR Kultur *
A stunning book about trying to be free in the harsh reality of East Germany. We follow the tragic and touching jorney of the young political activist Matz Domaschk from his dream of freedom for all to an urn numbered 73909. – Andrey Kurkov
An intimate portrait of Matz’s search for personal freedom … Generation GDR delivers a powerful warning from history * Telegraph *
About The Author
Peter Wensierski
Peter Wensierski is a German author, journalist and documentary filmmaker who has worked for the news magazine Spiegel since 1993. Prior to this, he was a correspondent for the Protestant press service EPD in the German Democratic Republic publishing numerous reports, books and documentaries about the opposition movement in the churches, among young people and in artistic and intellectual circles across the state. In 1985, the government of the German Democratic Republic imposed a work and entry ban on him.
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