Jochen Buchsteiner

His grandmother’s detailed account of her escape is the starting point for Jochen Buchsteiner’s captivating research into East Prussia. In a personal but unsentimental way, he follows the path of the landowner’s family to the West, tracing the loss that was not only suffered by those affected. The result is a portrait of the almost forgotten German province, which becomes visible in its tragedy, but also in its historical and cultural uniqueness – as a repressed part of our national identity. Two generations after Marion Gräfin Dönhoff, Jochen Buchsteiner provides a family narrative that dares to take a fresh look at the German past.

Jochen Buchsteiner studied political science and general rhetoric. He reported for the FAZ from Asia and London and is now political correspondent for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung in Berlin. His latest book Wir Ostpreußen. Eine Familiengeschichte (dtv) will be published in May 2025.