Generation GDR

Truth, Freedom and One Man's Last Journey

Peter Wensierski, Jamie Bulloch

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English

MacLehose Press
14 August 2025

European history; Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000; Political oppression & persecution

A gripping account of East Germany in the late '70s and early '80s, and of one man's fated struggle for freedom.

Friday, April 10th, 1981: 23-year-old Mathias Domaschk boards the fast train from Jena to Berlin, on his way to a birthday party. But he never arrives . . .

The packed train is held up en route, and Mathias and three of his friends are apprehended, suspected of being part of a cell intent on disrupting the socialist party congress. Forty-eight hours later he is dead, following interrogation in the Stasi detention centre in Gera.

What happened over those two days?

Peter Wensierski's captivating book draws on multiple witness statements and extensive Stasi documentation to build a riveting and dramatic account, switching between Mathias's journey and the Stasi activities up to and through his arrest. He also places this tragedy against its broader political and social context to reveal the lives of a whole generation of young East Germans who just wanted live freely - and the contempt that the GDR authorities displayed for their humanity.

Part reportage, part true crime, Generation GDR offers unique insights into the secret corridors of an authoritarian regime and delivers a powerful warning from history.

Translated from the German by Jamie Bulloch

By: Peter Wensierski
Translated by: Jamie Bulloch
Imprint: MacLehose Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 232mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 30mm
Weight: 420g
ISBN: 9781529435207
ISBN 10: 152943520X
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 14 August 2025
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

PETER WENSIERSKI is a German author, journalist and documentary filmmaker who has worked for the news magazine Spiegel since 1993. Prior to this, he was a correspondent for the Protestant press service EPD in the German Democratic Republic publishing numerous reports, books and documentaries about the opposition movement in the churches, among young people and in artistic and intellectual circles across the state. In 1985, the government of the German Democratic Republic imposed a work and entry ban on him.

Reviews for Generation GDR: Truth, Freedom and One Man's Last Journey

Generation GDR is a historical detective story about the tragic death of one young East German in 1981 but also much more than that. It shows how the socialist dictatorship destroyed its own future by destroying its youth. An important counterweight to the rose-tinted nostalgia for the GDR -- Frank Trentmann, author of Out of the Darkness: The Germans, 1942–2022. An awe-inspiring book * ZDF Heute * Wensierski's descriptions infuse his book with haunting authenticity * Die Welt * The concept of the book is on point, and it's a terrific read. It is breathtaking. [...] Wensierski's book will be the benchmark for any future work on the subject * MDR Kultur *