Description du livre
This autobiographic narrative broadly describes the life of a boy in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from his birth at the beginning of 1964 to his emigration to the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) at the end of 1983, as well as the effects of his childhood experiences on his later life.
Born in Saxony, he moved with his parents to a town near to Berlin in Summer of 1969. Because of his dialect, he has been an outsider at school from the start on.
Due to a lack of other options, he focuses on his school education, which makes him a nerd in the eyes of his classmates. This isolation, reinforced by his parents' behavior, is perceived by other people outside of family and school.
His parents received an invitation from a GDR government agency to spend 8 weeks in a pioneer camp during the summer holidays, a holiday camp for students with above-average grades. In the GDR, extraordinary achievements by students were often rewarded in such a way or similar.
Once in the camp, however, the award turns out to be a strictly organized, never-ending abuse of children in the context of ritual violence.
The author lets his childish Self speak but supported by an adult's understanding of language. The attempt to graphically describe the horror experienced and make it understandable without traumatizing the readers or re-traumatizing themselves was a balancing act for the author.