Suddenly Everything Was Different

A unique historical and literary document of lives dislocated by the collapse of East Germany.

What happens when the world in which people have crafted identities for themselves and lived their lives suddenly disappears? How does a person -- or a nation -- confront such a shock? From 1990 to 1993, at an unparalleled momentin German history, Olaf Georg Klein interviewed almost a hundred fellow former East German citizens, probing their experiences of the sudden collapse of the German Democratic Republic, then crafting that material into twelve first-person narratives. The result is a literary account whose narrators include representatives from the cities and the countryside, from young and old, from the East German power elite and the resistance, as well as from those in position to be critical of both the GDR and united Germany. The book was a sensation in Germany upon its publication in 1994, and the translation will be of interest to students and scholars in history and political science, sociology, psychology, and literary studies. It includes an introduction and extensive annotations to assist the reader in understanding the East German and unified German contexts.

Olaf Georg Klein's novelAftermath was published in translation by Northwestern University Press in 1999. Ann McGlashan is Associate Professor of German and Dwight D. Allman is Associate Professor of Political Science, both at Baylor University.

Introduction - Dwight Allman
Translator's Preface - Ann McGlashan
Author's Preface - Olaf Georg Klein
"I think it comes from keeping everything bottled up inside and never opening your mouth..."Klara D., 38, artist, emigrated to the West in 1984
"So much of the really good life was lost to us..."Petra B., 41, case worker for exit permits
"You should know I won't be blackmailed..."Protestant country pastor, born 1925
"They even accuse me of having planned murders..."Major Glewe, 45, retired State Security officer
"I never cared much for work just for the sake of work..."Hartmut L., 43, conscientious objector, social worker, insuranceagentagent
"And that's why you'd rather give in first..."Bärbel C., 28, daycare worker, wife of a former border guard
"So what's changed? Patriarchy hasn't disappeared..."Beate G., 45, institute employee and sculptor in metal
"I always hope I won't wake up in the morning..."Rudi K., 39, former "unofficial co-worker" of the Secret Police, nowright-wing radicalright-wing radical
"Somehow or other I want to make up for the mistakes I made back then..."Peter D., 41, journalist, member of the SED, escaped to the West,returned in 1990, founder of a newspaperreturned in 1990, founder of a newspaper
"So how are people ever going to connect with each other?"Günter C., 56, laborer, unemployed and in debt
"You have to keep your mouth shut and do your job as if it's the most fulfilling thing in your life..."Peter B., 18, school student in the East, trainee in the West
"You can best change the world by changing yourself..."Lars N., 40, pastor, philosopher, party founder
Annotations
Works Consulted & Cited
Index