Bernhard Schlink

Manfred Osten and Bernhard Schlink in conversation about the latter’s book Die Enkelin (2021) and divided Germany from the 1960s to the present day.

“There is a lot of talk about those in the East, but little with them, and above all little listening to them” – an observation made by the author of Die Enkelin, a novel about fates between East and West Germany before and after reunification. It is important to understand why the relationship to politics, migration, public opinion and cultural trends is different in the East than in the West and why there is still resentment toward the West.

Bernhard Schlink , professor emeritus of law, was born in 1944, grew up in Heidelberg, and lives in Berlin and New York. His novel The Reader (1995) has been translated into more than 50 languages and has won national and international awards.