This story takes place in an imaginary village situated between the former East and West Germany. It tells of a young man’s visit and the effect it has on the rest of his life.
I lived in West Germany for a year in 1977 and my first visit to East Germany took place in 1991, shortly after the Wall came down. The first village I came to was Zarrentin, only a matter of kilometres from Lübeck in the West. As I stepped out of the car, I was immediately immersed in silence and a sense of something immanent, yet both unique and universal at the same time. I felt more at home in those moments than I have anywhere else before or since.
This experience has never left me, and when the pressure to write about it increased during the summer months of 1995, I could no longer avoid it. I wrote out the whole story with hardly any sleep over three days.
The protagonist must become what he was always meant to be. The combination of destiny and consciousness have fascinated me all my life.
So, welcome to Schwerentin! I hope the text means something to you as well.