Today I wholeheartedly recommend the much-lauded family autobiography ‘Red Love’ (2009) by East German journalist Maxim Leo, born in 1970. Leo presents a German family perhaps remarkable, perhaps indeed very average, in which can be found traces of Judaism, incredible acts of courage during the Nazi regime, military fervour, disillusioned faith in Communism, repressed traumas, and nuanced inter-generational tensions. For a timely insight into the complexity of German reunification as we approach the 30th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, give it a read!
