Laura Laabs: A novel about East Berlin and forgotten identities

Laura Laabs: A novel about East Berlin and forgotten identities

With her debut novel *Adlergestell*, Laura Laabs has not only created a literary work that is deeply rooted in her own biography, but also illuminates the complex themes of East German identity. The film director and writer, born in East Berlin in 1985, takes readers on a journey back to her childhood, which is marked by historical events. The central motif is the question of the extent to which the great upheavals of history have influenced individual lives. “Adlergestell” is described as a novel that is more than nostalgia and reckoning - it is a search for traces of one's own alienation and family roots, which are anchored in a past that is as eventful as it is problematic news.at reports.

The story follows three girls – Lenka, Chaline and the first-person narrator – who grow up in East Berlin around 1990 and overcome the challenges of life after the fall of the Wall. They have big dreams and want to take their lives into their own hands, but will soon be faced with the limits of their freedom. The effects of these upheavals and their ongoing hopes are impressively portrayed in the novel. The protagonists' experiences are embedded in a historical context that is important for many East Germans and reflect the complex relationship to their own identity. According to Klett-Cotta, the novel is designed as a “post-reunification novel” that links the reality of that time with the conflicts of the present.

The search for identity

At the center of Laabs' story is the individual search for identity, which is extremely explosive given the current political change in Germany. The first-person narrator, who comes from an anti-fascist family, deals with the drift of many people around her into a political direction that does not agree with her own beliefs. In their hometown, the AfD received 47 percent of the vote, which is an alarming fact and raises questions about social changes.

Barbara von Lapdogs pointed out these problems and in her analysis shed light on the fact that East German identity is often perceived as deficient and marginalized. Many East Germans still feel like “second class people” today. This ambivalent relationship to the past and the search for a place in the present is central to understanding East German identities, as bpb.de shows. Laabs' novel offers an important contribution to this discussion through its personal perspective and the connection between historical events and individual fates.

East German memories and their influence

Laura Laabs not only presents her own perspective in her work. Your novel also addresses the culture of remembrance in East Germany. The formative role of the grandparents - the great-grandfather as a petty Nazi criminal and the grandfather as a journalist and unofficial employee of the GDR secret service - sheds light on the individual and collective shadows of the past that continue to have an impact on the present. These familial entanglements show how one's own story is often overshadowed by larger societal narratives.

In keeping with the historical and social context, “Adlergestell” asks questions about the connection between past and present and the lasting effects of identity on individual lives. Laabs now lives in Bad Kleinen, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and has a second home in Berlin, where she occasionally works as a temporary worker in a bar. She embodies a reality that is familiar to many East Germans.

“Adlergestell” is not only a look back at one's own childhood, but also a critical examination of today's social situation. The novel is considered an important voice in the discourse about East German identity and the challenges that continue to exist there.