New Lives

FOOTNOTES

1. Two pages are missing; this page is numbered “3” at the top. It was possible to reconstruct the date.

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2. Enrico always called himself Heinrich when dealing with his sister.

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3. The nickname both brother and sister called their mother.

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4. There was no phone either in T.’s and Michaela’s apartment or at his mother’s home in Dresden. His mother could be reached only at Friedrichstadt Hospital, where she worked as a surgical nurse.

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5. T. had quit his job at the theater in early January.

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6. This same cryptic statement is repeated in later letters in different versions and in greater detail.

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7. Altenburg’s hallmark. All that is left of the convent founded during the reign of Kaiser Friedrich Barbarossa are two brick steeples that are said to symbolize the tips of the kaiser’s red beard.

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8. Their original idea was for the paper to be the New Forum’s weekly and for it to be financed by the Citizens’ Movement.

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9. Neues Deutschland.

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10. Václav Havel’s first foreign trip as president of Czechoslovakia took him to the GDR, then to Munich.

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11. U.S. troops took over Panama on Dec. 24, 1989. President Noriega, a former CIA agent, sought asylum in the Vatican embassy, which he then left on Jan. 3, 1990. He was later tried on charges of drug smuggling.

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12. Gleina, south of Altenburg, had a large radar station for the National People’s Army.

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13. Nicola Barakat, Vera Türmer’s husband since January 1989, a Lebanese. He ran a fabric shop in West Berlin where V. T. worked part-time. Toward the end of 1989 he visited his mother in Beirut. He came up with the idea of reopening his parents’ business in Beirut. V. T. followed him then in late January.

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14. T. apparently failed to realize that within the foreseeable future he would have to report on such events as this.

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15. Drunkard, “stewbum.”

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16. Colonel in the State Security, after 1966 head of “KoKo” (Commercial Coordination), which was supposed to keep the GDR solvent by means of covert business transactions.

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17. Soviet-German joint-stock company that mined uranium at various sites in Thuringia and Saxony.

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18. The only hotel in town at the time.

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19. The paper was set in linotype.

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20. T. had bet his mother that he would see Paris before his thirtieth birthday — information provided by Elisabeth Türmer.

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21. Jan Steen.

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22. He means his car, a Wartburg Deluxe.

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23. This letter presumes that some information about the trip to Offenburg, including T.’s impressions, had already been shared with his sister, evidently in phone calls from there.

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24. Skat and a factory for skat playing cards has been Altenburg’s claim to fame. During this same period the Offenburg town hall was inundated with packages filled with decks of skat cards. The backs were often female nudes. Most senders wanted to establish contact with families in their new sister city.

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25. Figure in a Russian fairy tale in which the youngest, and presumed dumbest, carries the day.

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26. The newsletter of the Altenburg New Forum, published by Michaela Fürst. Its five issues were considered the precursor of the Altenburg Weekly.

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27. Tiramisu.

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28. Until the end of 1989 Elisabeth Türmer had believed that, after V. T.’s departure for West Berlin in the summer of 1987, she had at last begun a career as an actor there.

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29. A coalition made up of the Christian Democratic Union, the German Social Union, and the “Democratic Awakening.”

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30. Herrmann Türmer died in 1968.

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31. There are just a few places where a strongly homoerotically tinged relationship between T. and Johann is suggested, and rarely is the implication as overt as it is here. Without knowledge of this fact, however, several passages would be incomprehensible.

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32. Candidate of the Socialist Unity Party.

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33. Between October 2nd and 8th there was a massive police deployment in Dresden. The initial cause was a fracas outside the Central Station, where trains carrying refugees from the German embassy in Prague had been passing through. Hundreds of people hoped to find a place on one of the trains. Cf. also the letter of May 25, ’90.

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34. Hanns Eisler, Johann Faustus (Berlin, 1952).

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35. A standard procedure at the time, as the editor himself learned firsthand.

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36. As children the two had had a Hungarian street map of Paris that they had tried to learn by heart. — Information provided by V. T.

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37. Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast.

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38. Built in Budapest at the end of the nineteenth century, it offers a view of the Danube and of all of Pest across the river.

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39. Train station in Dresden.

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40. For T. plastic cups were the symbol of the official world, from kindergarten to the army — information provided by V. T.

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41. Quote from André Breton’s Nadja.

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42. Café in Dresden.

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43. Military abbreviations: Short Leave of two days; Extended Leave of three days.

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44. At the end of this volume of letters the reader may perhaps see the occasion differently.

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45. The E.T. in Spielberg’s film of the same name becomes a lower-case Latin et, meaning “and.”

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46. Anna Seghers, The Trial of Jeanne d’Arc in Rouen, 1431, radio play (Leipzig, 1975); T. evidently means still photographs included in the book and taken from the silent film La passion de Jeanne d’Arc (1928), directed by C. T. Dreyer.

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47. Sweater vest.

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48. The dating of this letter is problematic. There is hardly any way to make the details dovetail. T. is evidently mistaken about the date. “The day before yesterday” was Sunday, that is the same day on which they worked late into the night. An earlier date is likewise hardly possible. And yet discrepancies also arise for Wednesday and Thursday. The most probable time for the letter to have been written is Thursday morning, although it seems odd that there is no mention of the day on which the first issue was published.

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49. Volkspolizei, the People’s Police.

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50. Presumably he means on Tuesday of the previous week.

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51. Leipziger Volkszeitung [Leipzig National Newspaper].

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52. Martin Luther Church is at the opposite end of Market Square, a distance of about eight hundred feet.

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53. Two new residential developments, one with fifteen, the other with five thousand inhabitants.

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54. They had been preparing the second issue.

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55. T. wrote the majority of his letters, especially those to N. H., between five and nine a.m.

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56. The first two paragraphs of this letter reflect contradictory intentions. On the one hand T. describes letter writing as a pastime; on the other, the idea that he “has” to say something suggests that he regards it as his duty to report about his work. This ambivalence, despite whatever embellishments accompany it, is always present.

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57. One month previous, on Jan. 18th, T. had written that he owed his job at the paper to the “Prophet,” Rudolf Franck. “He initiated things and put in a good word for me.”

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58. The launching celebration was held on Feb. 2nd, the first day of sales.

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59. As a photographer Nicoletta Hansen had accompanied a journalist who was doing a story about the countless number of newly founded newspapers, especially in Thuringia and Saxony. When the article finally appeared there was no mention of the Altenburg Weekly. T. had asked the reporter for N. H.’s address.

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60. Apparently this was a bilingual edition of Apuleius’s Cupid and Psyche (Leipzig, 1981), in which there were color photographs of the nine frescoes executed in 1838 by Moritz von Schwind for the music pavilion in Rüdigsdorf near Kohren-Sahlis.

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61. These additional plans evidently led nowhere.

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62. A specialty in Altenburg and Schmölln: pork roast (either rib or shoulder) marinated in marjoram and roasted on a spit over a birchwood fire.

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63. Large Neeberg Figure, by Wieland Förster.

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64. This is the first time that T. describes himself, however indirectly, as an artist/writer.

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65. Strangely enough, T. has chosen the least appropriate place here for his confessions, since he is advocating much the same thing as the lowbrow that he just threw out of the office a few hours before.

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66. This passage sounds the central motif of his letters to N. H. for the first time.

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67. If one applies this mode of thought to T. himself, one might well conclude that he has found a strong “drug” for himself.

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68. Despite various attempts to learn the nature of these accusations and what had preceded them, I am still in the dark as to the meaning of this passage.

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69. The piles of tailings at the Wismut mine.

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70. Miss Julie, by August Strindberg.

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71. Franz Flieder, director.

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72. General manager.

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73. The first performance of the remounted production took place on Sunday, March 4th.

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74. All quotes agree verbatim with the text, which may indicate that T. had a copy in front of him when writing this letter.

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75. At the time Johannes Rau was the prime minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, had been nominated as the Social Democratic candidate for chancellor in 1986, and was later elected president of the Federal Republic of Germany, 2000–2004.

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76. A local term for musical chairs.

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77. Clemens von Barrista, Living Money — Lebendes Geld (Heidelberg, 1987).

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78. Most of Goethe’s and Schiller’s ballads were written in 1797; it was also the year in which Hölderlin’s Hyperion was published.

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79. T.’s nickname for Barrista, taken from his “big black American cruiser,” a “LeBaron.”

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80. Crossed out: “without having first washed her hands,”

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81. Presumably T. means mousse and grappa.

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82. In order to protect the rights of privacy, no details can be provided.

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83. The proof room at the printing shop of the Leipziger Volkszeitung, where the Altenburg Weekly was read for corrections every Wednesday.

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84. Cf. the letters that follow.

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85. The question as to what extent these “susurrations” (cf. below) had anything to do with T.’s real experience is something each reader will have to decide for him-or herself over time. Quite obviously he is searching here for some reason to be writing these letters. A rather poor motivation.

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86. T. apparently expected that N. H. had written him before she even left Altenburg. The accident had happened only two days before.

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87. Here T. addresses the central theme of his letters to N. H.

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88. Willi Schwabe’s Attic—an East German television program. At the beginning of each episode Willi Schwabe, with lantern in hand, would climb the stairs to a kind of storage room. The background music was the “Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy” from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker.

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89. At the start of the second part of the letter it was still evening. Either T. had slept in the meantime or — though it is hardly likely — it had taken him all night to write it.

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90. Refers to a phone call that evidently came earlier than had been agreed on. T.’s letters to V. T. never made it to Beirut. Thus the only ones that still exist are those that T. made a carbon copy of, plus two faxed letters.

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91. Cf. footnote 2, The Letters of Enrico Türmer.

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92. He means the “ice crystals” of the shattered windshield.

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93. This surely must either be a wish or a fond hope. It is quite unclear what T. meant by this. There is no record of anything by N. H. ever being published in the Altenburg Weekly.

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94. T. had already noted in his letter to N. H. that the neck support had been removed.

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95. T. and N. H. knew each other for only a few hours, and those were full of misunderstandings and accidents. The fact that N. H. came from the Federal Republic of Germany must have played a major role in T.’s attraction to her. T. is explaining and justifying himself for a Western audience here, a quite typical stance in East Germany at the time.

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96. These words remind one more of the opening of a novel than of a letter. It remains unclear for whom this “painful story” is intended, for whom it is supposed to serve as a “cautionary tale.”

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97. An oilclothlike material that could be wiped off.

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98. T. doesn’t explain who lies concealed behind this we.

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99. It was quite common for people to give their cars names. One explanation might be that you drove, or better, had to drive, “your car” for ten years or more.

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100. Approximately one thousand very valuable volumes were removed from the Altenburg Council Library under the pretext of their needing repair, but were then sold in the West under the aegis of Schalck-Golodkowski’s Commercial Coordination.

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101. There were a good number of cases in which school principals were either demoted or fired.

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102. Presumably broken off because Barrista had appeared.

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103. The heroine in Rusalka had broken her leg. She continued to sing, but Michaela Fürst had to stand in for her onstage for several performances.

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104. The talking car from the TV series Knight Rider was named KITT.

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105. No literary work by Johann Ziehlke has been found among T.’s papers.

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106. More details of the argument between N. H. and Barrista can be found in later letters to N. H.

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107. The Alliance 90 (New Forum, Democracy Now, Initiative for Peace and Human Rights) received only 2.9 percent of the votes. That put the Citizens’ Movement out of the running for good. The Alliance for Germany (Christian Democratic Union, German Social Union, and Democratic Awakening) received 48 percent, the CDU taking 40.6 percent of that; German Socialist Party, 21.8 percent; Party of Democratic Socialism, 16.3 percent. Voter participation was 93 percent.

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108. For self-employed people like Piatkowski a position with the LPDP (German Liberal Democratic Party) would have offered a more likely “refuge” than the CDU.

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109. Nicoletta had sent T. some newspaper articles about Clemens von Barrista and marked up several paragraphs.

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110. Of course the correct verb at this point ought to be “read,” not “hear.”

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111. In Intershop stores Western goods could be purchased with foreign currency. The potpourri of odors from soap, detergent, coffee, chocolate, perfume, etc., created a special fragrance that no longer exists, but that at the time pervaded the immediate vicinity of these stores and was perceived by many as a promise of the “Golden West.” At no point, however, does Türmer consider the moral and social implications of such Intershop stores for the populace of the GDR.

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112. The painter Gerhard Ströch, born 1926 in Rödichen-Schnepfenthal, lived in Altenburg and in 1956 adopted the name Altenbourg; he died on Dec. 29, 1989, in a car accident near Meissen.

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113. A tar-processing factory in Rositz.

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114. In 1806, at the battle of Jena and Auerstadt, Napoleon’s troops defeated the armies of Prussia and Saxony. At Jena the French forces were larger, whereas at Auerstadt — to which Barrista was obviously referring — they were only about half as strong as those of their foes.

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115. According to information provided by V. T., the children first heard Frau Nádori use the word “Mamus” for Mother/Mama, which they then adopted.

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116. This sort of barter was customary inasmuch as citizens of the GDR could exchange their marks for only a limited number of forints.

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117. Since the family had previously always taken this trip during spring break, T.’s last trip to Budapest had occurred before his “Awakening.”

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118. Ibrahim Böhme, the chairman of the East’s sister party to the West German SPD. Both he and, prior to him, the lawyer Wolfgang Schnur, one of the cofounders of “Democratic Awakening,” which then later became part of the CDU, had been denounced as spies of the former State Security.

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119. T. is perhaps too hasty here in insinuating a suspicion.

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120. It is difficult to recapture the provocation that T.’s election editorial is said to have represented in March 1990. T. concluded his hardly original commentary: “Certainly more important than the results is the fact that it was possible to hold an election at all.”

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121. The “illustrated volume” in question is Robert Oertel, Frühe italienische Malerei in Altenburg [Early Italian Painting in Altenburg] (Berlin, 1961). “The two centuries whose course we can survey in the Altenburg Collection were decisive not only for the future of Italian art, but also for the artistic spirit of Europe itself,” p. 50.

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122. At the time, twelve hundred D-marks were worth approximately three to four thousand East-marks. A comparable profit would have required an increase in sales of at least four if not five thousand additional copies.

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123. He is referring to the vespers sung by the choir of the Dresden Kreuzkirche.

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124. This is a misleading statement, since one of T.’s manuscript pages contained barely half the number of words found on a standard typed page.

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125. A consolidated high school (with grades nine to twelve) whose pupils also included the boys and young men of the Kreuzkirche choir (so-called Kreuzianer).

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126. The setting for the stories and novels of Hermann Hesse, who in 1892 fled from Maulbronn after only seven months there.

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127. Incorrectly quoted. “To the honor of God, in memory of its founders, and for the benefit and profit of the young.”

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128. The town in the Swiss canton of Tessin where Hesse lived from 1919 until his death in 1962.

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129. The nickname given Johann Ziehlke, although it is not quite clear just why. Apparently in the sense of “the last honest man standing.” The historical Geronimo (1829–1909) was the chief of the Chiricahua Apaches, who did not surrender until 1886, i.e., very late.

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130. Türmer was born on Nov. 29, 1961, and was fifteen years old that autumn (1977).

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131. In publishing this I am, willy-nilly, opening myself to the charge of being the enabler of T.’s conceit. I wholeheartedly reject any such an interpretation of my actions and wish to point out that what I am offering here is a critical account of T.’s life, intended to serve as a cautionary tale.

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132. Crossed out: squander.

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133. Since I myself participated in these same gym classes, I can only assert that T.’s descriptions are inaccurate.

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134. Both the original and the carbon copy of this “letter” end without complimentary close or signature. Caught up in telling his story, T. had evidently completely forgotten N. H.

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135. On May 5, 1990, that is, barely five weeks away.

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136. Although perhaps a perfectly acceptable idiom in English, T. has mixed his German idioms here: “burned our ships” and “destroyed our bridges.”

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137. There are things about this narrative that arouse suspicion. How, for example, could four such packages have been stuffed into one slim attaché case?

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138. Apparently Barrista had paid on a 1:1 East-mark, D-mark basis.

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139. T. means a New York Yankees baseball cap, whose logo is an interlinked N and Y.

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140. Jörg and Georg were fifty-fifty co-owners of the company according to civil code.

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141. It is inexplicable why they are so secretive around Robert.

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142. CDs were hardly known in the East at that point.

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143. In his letter of March 15, 1990, he mentions that Barrista has two children.

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144. T. did not have a bad voice, but he couldn’t carry a tune on his own. Every attempt at a round fell apart when it was time for him to enter. He always needed someone singing in his ear.

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145. Respect for rights of privacy preclude mention of his name.

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146. In creating the category of a German Democratic Republic face, T. evidently was unaware of just how problematic the notion of a national and/or state physiognomy really is.

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147. Publication evidently never occurred.

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148. Neustadt and Loschwitz are two neighborhoods in Dresden inhabited by a relatively high percentage of artists.

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149. T. constantly let opportunities to take action pass him by. Particularly when one assumes that these letters are his attempt at a critical self-accounting, it is amazing that he never condemns his own temporizing.

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150. What the latter has to do with the former remains T.’s secret.

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151. A somewhat too offhanded mention of a truly remarkable offer.

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152. In view of T.’s immense correspondence, this statement may seem surprising. And yet both Johann and V. T. were too much a part of his memories, which is evidently why only Nicoletta Hansen was considered as the addressee for his description of “the path that led him astray.” Cf. note 2, The Letters of Enrico Türmer.

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153. T. felt like an “amputee” once before, when he was describing to Johann Ziehlke what it was like to lose his car. Cf. the letter of March 13, 1990.

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154. Upon completing preparatory seminary, Johann Ziehlke had only one choice: to study theology at a church college, since admission to a university required a high school diploma.

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155. Such candor when dealing with N. H. is surprising.

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156. Due to its dilapidated state the building was torn down three years ago.

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157. Overgrown lots that had been left unused after several buildings were torn down in 1988–89.

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158. The previous letter was written on Sunday morning. The discrepancy between the “strange sense of joy” mentioned in it and the “nightmare” described here remains unexplained.

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159. This letter was sent to V. T. by fax.

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160. Imposing on Georg.

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161. Picasso, Fassbinder, Schygulla.

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162. He is referring to the theater in Rudolstadt.

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163. The inaccuracy of this characterization of N. H. says a great deal about T.

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164. By his own admission, T. usually awoke around four in morning.

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165. T.’s last letter to Johann was dated three days previous.

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166. There is no explanation for why T. fails to mention Michaela’s miscarriage.

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167. This is the first time that T. uses the word “confession,” but from this point on he almost always uses the term for these chronicles.

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168. According to V. T., she was never subjected to a “Berlin embargo.”

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169. Apparently an allusion to poems by “precocious wunderkinder.”

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170. Schulpforta — among the famous students of the boarding school there were Klopstock, Fichte, Ranke, and Nietzsche. Röcken — Friedrich Nietzsche’s birthplace; the philosopher’s childhood home, the church where he was baptized, and his grave are located there.

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171. Bernardo Bellotto, (called Canaletto), 1721–80, painted many views of the city of Dresden. T. evidently means the famous painting Dresden From the Right Bank of the Elbe Below the Augustus Bridge (1748).

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172. Heinrich Böll had given a speech in praise of Reiner Kunze on the occasion of his being awarded the Büchner Prize in 1977, the same year in which he left the GDR.

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173. Figures in Homer’s Iliad.

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174. This letter was sent to V. T. by fax.

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175. Refugee camps near Beirut. In 1982, after the invasion by the Israeli army, massacres of Palestinian refugees were carried out by the Christian militias.

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176. Countries that had had military dictatorships.

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177. The putsch by Chilean General Pinochet on September 11, 1973, led to mass arrests. Many of those arrested were tortured and murdered; about three thousand died. The singer and songwriter Victor Jara’s hands were crushed, but not hacked off, before he was shot.

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178. Budyonny — a general in the cavalry of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War. Isaac Babel — famous for his short-story collection, Red Cavalry—served under Budyonny.

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179. On Dec. 13, 1981, the Polish military, under the leadership of General Jaruzelski, declared martial law throughout Poland and banned the independent labor union, Solidarnóśćc. T. evidently assumed that N. H. would recognize the significance of “December 13th.”

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180. Unless on duty, officers slept at home and first had to make their way to the base.

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181. Pejorative Saxon slang for people who live on the Baltic coast.

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182. Evidently T. considered her support a matter of course.

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183. Gojko Mitíc was famous for his roles as an Indian chief in GDR films. For a long time he was considered the epitome of male beauty. T. is assuming that N. H. knows who he was.

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184. Translator’s note: Käferchen means “little beetle,” or better perhaps, “little bug.”

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185. Barrista’s entourage evidently had considerable practice at scenes like this.

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186. Monetary union with the Federal Republic was scheduled to begin July 1, 1990.

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187. T. initially gave the sum as twelve hundred, cf. his letter of March 28, 1990.

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188. T. was now in the second six months of his eighteen-month service.

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189. This is a surprising statement inasmuch as at the end of his previous letter to N. H., T. had claimed that he was “not going to tolerate” Nikolai in his presence anymore.

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190. Understandably enough, T. wanted to conceal his homoerotic relationship with Nikolai, but was also evidently unable to do without Nikolai in his cast of characters.

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191. Forty-eight-hour sentry duty.

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192. T. knew whereof he spoke. His letters to Nicoletta read like a settlement of accounts with a life made up of “intentionally arranged incidents.” At the same time the question necessarily arises as to whether his letters to Nicoletta are not also “an intentionally arranged incident.”

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193. Corporal stripes are incomprehensible as a reason.

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194. V. T. and Johann Ziehlke are in agreement that in the first few days after their discharge, T. and Nikolai were a couple.

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195. T. feared any and all competition in this regard as well.

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196. T. leaves unmentioned the fact that he knew the person in question from his school-days: to wit, the publisher of these letters. I would have loved to know T.’s opinion of my texts, but he never again refers to them here.

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197. The Army District Command was where one’s identification papers were returned, after having been held there for the duration of one’s military service.

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198. The edition he means was probably that of the Verlag Kultur und Fortschritt [Culture and Progress Publishers] (Berlin, 1964), on the cover of which is a saber-brandishing, mustachioed cavalryman.

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199. Matthias Domaschk of Jena was arrested on April 10, 1981, and the following morning was handed over to the district office of the Ministry for State Security in Gera. On April 12th, Matthias Domaschk died in the ministry’s pretrial detention facility in Gera under circumstances still unexplained today. The Ministry for State Security reported that he had hanged himself with his own shirt.

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200. An elegant new spelling. One presumes it was also meant to invoke echoes of Beethoven.

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201. A note paper-clipped to this carbon copy contains the following quoted observation: “What one perceives in the presence of one’s beloved is only a negative that must first be developed when one returns home and can use the darkroom of one’s own interior, the entrance to which is ‘nailed shut’ as long as one can see the other person.” Thus far no source for this quote has been determined.

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202. The five weeks of reserve training were graded as if they were regular coursework. Anyone who did not “pass” was dismissed from the university.

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203. A description of the enemy on the basis of certain predetermined criteria.

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204. Officers were usually not from one’s own university or technical school.

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205. The firm was a synonym for the State Security.

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206. The analogy between the situation described here and that in which T. now found himself as a letter writer is certainly self-evident. Both women “fit in with all the rest” and into his “calculation” as well.

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207. As a rule each student received two hundred marks per month, with which one could just eke out an existence without assistance from home or taking a part-time job.

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208. “I still recall that ‘Maria Theresia’ meant Bratislava and ‘go to work’ meant Brno, but I’ve forgotten how the mistake happened and whether it was Enrico’s or my fault.”—Sabine Kraft in a letter to the editor.

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209. Power plants in the “three-country triangle” of the GDR, Czechoslovakia, and Poland had badly damaged the flora and fauna of these low mountains.

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210. Beer.

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211. Apparently an allusion by T. to an imaginary quasi-incestuous relationship with V. T. This fantasy later takes on outright delusional dimensions.

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212. What lay behind this offer was the outcome of local elections held on May 6, 1990. Johann had campaigned as a candidate of Alliance 90, but had failed to be elected to the city council.

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213. He means that the page count can be increased or decreased in increments of four.

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214. On March 29th, the executive board of the German Bundesbank had recommended an exchange rate of 2:1, arguing that the GDR economy could not support a conversion at 1:1. The new head of government in the GDR, de Maizière, was afraid that cutting wages in half would result in “intolerable social tensions,” and advocated a 1:1 rate for salaries and pensions. On July 1st savings up to four thousand marks (and up to six thousand marks for citizens over sixty) were to be exchanged at 1:1, anything beyond that at 2:1. Since the exchange rate at the end of January had been 5:1 or even higher, T. is engaging in one of his typical speculations.

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215. For the local elections of May 6, 1990.

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216. T. surely knows more than he admits here, cf. his article in the Altenburg Weekly, no. 13; the most extensive and well-researched study on the history of the Altenburg hand reliquary has been done by Hans Dörpfeldt, published unfortunately in an obscure periodical, Heidelberger Studien zur katholischen Dogmatik [Heidelberg studies on Catholic dogmatics], no. 66, p. 55 ff.; cf. P. Schnabel, Die Heimkehr des Patrons [The patron returns home], in Altenburger Pfade in die Vergangenheit [Altenburg paths into the past], no. 1, p. 7 ff.; suitable as an introduction to the topic, especially for young readers, is Arbeiten und Beten mit Bonifatius [Work and prayer with Boniface] (Altenburg, 2004), 12th edition.

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217. T. apparently had in mind Horace: Works in One Volume, Manfred Simon, ed. and trans. (Berlin, 1972).

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218. A sweet Romanian white wine.

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219. T. was evidently still of this opinion in May 1990.

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220. It is rather unlikely that Roland, who according to V. T. was relatively well informed about conditions in the GDR, would have asked such a question. Perhaps here as well T. is sacrificing truth for the sake of a punch line.

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221. When had he ever previously arrived “at just such a point”?

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222. A standard textbook.

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223. By now at least it should be apparent how preoccupied T. was with questions of composition when writing these letters.

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224. It should be remembered that, as he did with the majority of his letters, T. made a carbon copy of these pages.

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225. The assumption that there was a homoerotic relationship between Johann and T. sheds relatively clear light on this enigmatic situation. The following remark from the copy, rendered illegible in the original, also indicates as much: “Just as with Vera before him, I had no choice but to interpret this as Johann’s payback for my love affair with Nadja.”

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226. On Dec. 6, 1989, representatives of the civil rights movement had, as was the case in many other towns as well, occupied the local offices of State Security.

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227. T. evidently thought he was being reduced to a “deduction.” It is said of him that later on he would make a point of crumpling up the bill after a business lunch and tossing it into the ashtray. (As reported by Johann Ziehlke.)

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228. T. was probably afraid that Frau Schorba would be too heavy for a room declared off-limits by the police.

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229. This letter is among the most illegible, due primarily to cross-outs and insertions, especially in the final third.

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230. From this point on T. insinuates — evidently intentionally — a suspicion. It is as if no letter can fail to mention some connection between Vera and State Security. And yet nothing in his presentation, either to this point or afterward, points to any such relationship. An unbiased reader will be unable to share T.’s qualms on the basis of remarks made here by V. T.

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231. The next three lines are blacked out in both original and copy.

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232. Crossed out: if only for this one night.

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233. Crossed out: and all my problems.

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234. T. is mistaken here. Sunday was the 13th.

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235. V. T. lived in West Beirut during her three months there. On April 18, 1990, a school bus got caught in an exchange of fire between rival Christian militias. Fifteen children lost their lives.

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236. Saxon slang for “head,”“skull.”

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237. T. means dozen. Correct terminology, as we shall soon see, would have spared him a moment of panic.

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238. The agreement with Barrista was that he would risk everything, not just his interim winnings. Judged on that basis, T. did fail.

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239. In his letter to Johann, T. had just boasted of having handed Vera his winnings.

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240. The university was required to find a job for each of its graduates.

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241. Wolfgang Hilbig, born in Meuselwitz in 1943, was allowed to publish only one thin volume of poems and short stories in the GDR, Stimme, Stimme [Voice, voice] (Leipzig, 1985); since 1979 his books have been published by S. Fischer in Frankfurt am Main.

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242. The collection consists of 180 early Italian paintings on wood panels.

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243. Something she might very well have suspected. T. was only fleetingly familiar with the museum and regarded exhibition openings there primarily as an opportunity for nurturing social contacts — both Johann Ziehlke and V. T. agree this was the case. Moreover this passage about the museum interrupts, for no good reason, the description of his theater experiences.

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244. T. is quoting the same passage from the introduction to the museum’s catalog that was already mentioned by C. von Barrista, cf. the letter of March 28, 1990. The panels referred to in the next paragraph are found in the same sequence in the registry of the collection.

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245. T. evidently failed to notice that he was describing himself here as the quintessential observer, the voyeur.

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246. Here as well T. is fantasizing. For if in fact it was as dark as he describes, he could scarcely have experienced a fly “whirling” around him.

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247. One cannot avoid the impression that T. was reveling in a certain nostalgia during the period of separation from Michaela.

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248. It would be interesting to learn what T. imagined a love affair was supposed to be.

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249. Presumably T. has once again forgotten the complimentary close that had already been reduced to a rather mechanical “Your Enrico T.” in his preceding letters.

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250. Cf. Appendix, “May.”

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251. T. means September 1988. Because of construction work that began without warning in the fall of ’87, the theater was closed for almost an entire season. The company did not resume production until September ’88.

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252. Legendary productions directed by Alexander Lang at the Deutsches Theater and by Heiner Müller at the Volksbühne.

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253. East German term for “subscription series.”

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254. During World War II only the industrial plants on the periphery of Altenburg were bombed, which was why the city had taken in a disproportionate number of refugees.

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255. This turn of phrase, which T. has used before (cf. the letter of May 5, 1990), can also be found in a slight variation on the next page. It is thus quite probable that T. has put these words into Michaela’s mouth.

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256. T. surely ought to have expected as much from a refugee family like the Paulinis.

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257. At least on the basis of the version printed here (Titus Holm: A Dresden Novella), I cannot second T.’s judgment regarding the quality of his novella.

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258. The last local elections in the GDR, held on May 7, 1989, marked the first time that fraud was ever proved, because in many precincts the counting of votes was observed by civil rights groups. The official tally showed 98.77 percent of votes cast went to the “candidates of the National Front.”

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259. In January 1988.

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260. T. has failed to provide any basis for such statements. Why should cool observation be purest kitsch?

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261. Cf. the story “Voting,” in the appendix.

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262. June 4, 1989.

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263. Required reading in school. A novel about a member of the youth organization Komsomol who became a Hero of the Soviet Union during the Russian Civil War.

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264. In the GDR women in their early thirties were considered almost too old to be bearing children.

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265. “Black and Blond” will be introduced later. At this point all that needs to be noted is that this had to do with “the two men in the white Lada” that T. thought he had seen at the accident on March 7th (cf. the letter of March 9, 1990). The reason behind T.’s question must have been just as incomprehensible to Johann Ziehlke. The explanation is revealed in letters to N. H. that follow.

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266. In his letter of April 10, 1990, T. wrote that Jörg had asked him to “keep working on his article on Piatkowski.” It was therefore originally T.’s assignment to write the article.

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267. One of the most popular chants at the Monday demonstrations in Leipzig.

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268. The help-wanted ad for a South African paper factory appeared on p. 1.

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269. Johann Ziehlke reports that T. often called Leopold Bloom, the central figure in Ulysses by James Joyce, the “patron saint of the advertising business.” In T.’s opinion, then, Marion’s “mistake” lay in not immediately being reminded of Leopold Bloom, who was anything but a “wretched character.”

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270. Manuela, “the blond waitress,” who by this time had become a sales rep.

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271. According to V. T., a very exaggerated version of a letter that has not survived.

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272. On September 11, 1989, Hungary opened its border to Austria. By the end of the day approximately ten thousand citizens of the GDR had fled to the West.

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273. Play by Christoph Hein (1944–). Johann Nepomuk Nestroy (1801–1869), Austrian playwright, Freiheit in Krähwinkel [Freedom in Gotham] (1849).

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274. Painter, cofounder of the New Forum, one of the best-known civil rights advocates.

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275. Albert Ebert (1906–1976), a master of small-format paintings and graphic works.

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276. They could have stored their purchases in the car.

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277. Applicants for exit visas to leave the GDR.

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278. They had driven through Leipzig on the way from Halle back to Altenburg.

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279. The fortieth anniversary of the founding of the GDR.

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280. At the end of September, Egon Krenz, chairman of the National Defense Council of the GDR and Erich Honecker’s crown prince, had visited China and congratulated our Chinese comrades on having “restored order and security by deploying armed force.”

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281. A neighborhood in Leipzig.

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282. Other demonstrators claim that the slogan was, “March with us!”

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283. It is possible that this slogan came from the demonstrations of ’68. “Don’t just stand there, make a fuss, come on friend, join with us!” (Suggestion by N. H.)

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284. He means the imprint left by the cap.

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285. The name in this passage appears to be T.’s invention. He uses it both in his letter about his army days (April 23, 1990) and in his story “Hundred-year Summer.” Surely no coincidence.

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286. Whether intentionally or not, T. says nothing about the fact that the confrontation between the demonstrators and the police that day came to a head and ended in violence. For a more precise account of what occurred later, cf. Martin Jankowski, Rabet oder Das Verschwinden einer Himmelsrichtung [Rabet, or the disappearance of a point of the compass], p. 155 ff., including, among other things, why and under what circumstances the chant of “We are the people” was first taken up at this same demonstration.

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287. Oct. 3, 1989.

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288. Saturday, Oct. 7th.

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289. It is possible that T. means the Stabat Mater by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710–36).

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290. Now Olbricht Platz.

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291. Now Albert Platz.

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292. Now Stauffenberg Allee.

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293. Johann Ziehlke, Dresden Demonstrators (Radebeul, 1990), pp. 9–23; cf. also Eckhard Bahr, Sieben Tage im Oktober [Seven days in October] (Leipzig, 1990), pp. 80–88.

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294. Now Strassburger Platz.

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295. A somewhat remarkable confession in a letter to a woman who was to become his fiancée.

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296. On May 22, 1990, the Democratic People’s Republic of Yemen (South Yemen) united with the Arab Republic of Yemen (North Yemen).

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297. This patriarchal attitude is said to have been typical of T. in his later enterprises as well.

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298. Now the Augustus Bridge.

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299. It’s remarkable that in May 1990, T. can still call Michaela’s brave conduct “madness.”

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300. And here as well, one would like to know: Why?

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301. The entrance to the Gewandhaus is at ground level; there are no steps.

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302. An appeal made by the “Leipzig Six” (the secretaries of the district leadership of the Socialist Unity Party, Kurt Meyer, Jochen Pommert, Roland Wötzel; the conductor Kurt Masur; the theologian Peter Zimmermann; and the cabaret artist Bernd-Lutz Lange): “We all need a free exchange of opinions about the continued direction of socialism in our country.” The appeal, which was read by Masur, ended with: “Our urgent plea is that you act with prudence so that peaceful dialogue can be possible.”

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303. T. heard the slogan a week after it was first chanted.

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304. A description easily identified as an exaggeration.

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305. Jörg Schröder vigorously disputes T.’s description of this event — and of those that follow. They had neither said anything derogatory about T.’s articles, nor, as T. would later repeatedly claim, had they asked him flat out to give back his share. They had merely reminded T. that his share of the newspaper had been given to him gratis. And he should keep that in mind, in case he no longer wished to work together with them.

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306. This idea, which will increasingly take up more room in his thoughts, already stands in contradiction to T.’s assurance to Johann that his sole purpose is to save the Weekly.

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307. In the original: “He who obeys no law is one in power with him who has no law.”

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308. T. is presumably using this gesture to denounce Jonas as a “Lenin monument.”

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309. It is difficult to discover any logic in T.’s actions. Previously in this same letter he claimed he had now found reasons “why I don’t want to be part of it all.”

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310. Crossed out: “We were just introduced.”

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311. It was merely a lectern, not a pulpit.

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312. Usually the two telephoned each other.

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313. At the time T. and V. T. were in Monte Carlo.

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314. T. never mentioned in his letters to Johann and N. H. that he had moved out of the apartment with Michaela and Robert and was now subletting a room from Cornelia and Massimo until the building C. von Barrista had bought was fully renovated.

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315. This characterization of Nikolai differs substantially from the version T. offered N. H.

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316. This statement marks T.’s break with the Weekly and the beginning of his dubious entrepreneurial career. T.’s claim that he had no other choice cannot be left unchallenged. Jörg Schröder: “I finally yielded to Enrico’s dogged persistence and, despite my wife’s opposition, was prepared to join with him in founding a free paper. But I was unwilling and unable to agree to Enrico’s stipulation that he alone would have ultimate decision-making power over this new publication.”

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317. Given this statement, one wonders if the “hardware people” had in fact ever intended to buy the building, as C. von Barrista claimed.

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318. World Soccer Cup in Italy (June 8 to August 8, 1990). Germany’s first game was on June 10th against Yugoslavia, which Germany won 4 to 1.

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319. T. fails to mention that Michaela had gone to Leipzig alone.

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320. T.’s relationship with the civil rights movement remains unpredictable and enigmatic.

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321. A Free German Youth shirt. Egon Krenz was for a long time the first secretary of the central committee of the Free German Youth.

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322. One was allowed to place telephone calls to West Berlin from East Berlin.

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323. It is rather improbable that T. wrote this long letter in just one single morning.

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324. This letter suggests that Johann Ziehlke had paid a visit to Altenburg. How the situation to which T. refers actually came about cannot be determined.

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325. Presumably Michaela found some of the carbon copies T. had made of his letters to N. H.

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326. This project was not realized until 2001—to international acclaim. Cf. Claritas: The Main Altar of the Cathedral of Siena after 1260: The Reconstruction, Lindenau-Museum (Altenburg, 2001).

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327. Female employees recently hired by T.

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328. Crossed out: “and complete authority.”

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329. The reference is to one-year contracts for weekly, fortnightly, or monthly placement of ads.

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330. This paragraph seems to suggest that these are T.’s own words, but he is in fact only repeating more of the baron’s speech.

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331. The meaning of this sentence remains inexplicable.

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332. Cf. the letter of Feb. 27, 1990. The “revolutionary orator” also appears in the letter to Johann Ziehlke dated Jan. 18, 1990, as the “loudmouth” at the meeting of the New Forum.

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333. T.’s expertise came from the fact that from age eleven to fourteen he trained for the Olympic rapid-fire pistol competition at the District Training Center in Dresden. Cf. the letter to N. H. of March 13, 1990.

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334. Consulted policemen declare it would have been impossible to “stuff” all the bullets into a matchbox.

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335. Georgi Dimitrov (1882–1949), leader of the Bulgarian Communist Party, after 1946 prime minister of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria. In 1933 he defended himself in a trial related to the burning of the Reichstag, with the result that he had to be released.

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336. The literary level of this story casts a telling light on T.’s literary ambitions.

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337. In Bavaria the “welcome money” was normally set at 140DM, rather than the usual 100DM.

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338. This scene remains inexplicable unless one recalls the farewell scene on the occasion of Vera’s departure. In his letter to N. H. of May 10, 1990, T. insinuated that there was some connection between V. T. and State Security. He had thought his mother was alluding to that.

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339. T.’s suspicions proved to be totally unfounded.

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340. Cf. the prose piece “Voting” in the appendix.

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341. This passage seems too carefully constructed, which makes it rather difficult to believe. Presumably a “tall tale.”

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342. The main tower of the Kremlin in Moscow, also called the “Savior Tower.”

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343. Foucault’s Pendulum (Munich, Vienna, 1989).

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344. The grocery stores in the GDR usually had handbaskets, but no shopping carts.

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345. Youth Consecration is a rite of initiation intended to mark the transition from youth to adulthood. It is a nonecclesiastical alternative to confirmation in the Protestant church or the sacrament of confirmation for Roman Catholics. Its origins lie in the ninteenth century. In the GDR it was officially promoted by a decree of the Soviet government in 1953. It is rather surprising that E. T. and his life partner observe this ritual without any pressure from the state, although such behavior is still quite common today in the eastern states of the Federal Republic.

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346. A similar statement can be found in T.’s letter to V. T. of Feb. 6, 1990: “The realization that for two hours I would now be freer than I had never been in my whole life robbed me of my will.”

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347. T. is in error here. Jim and Huck Finn were on the lookout for Cairo, Illinois, the town at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.

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348. Reinhard Raffalt, Eine Reise nach Neapel e parlare italiano [A trip to Naples e parlare italiano] (Munich, 1957). During these weeks T. apparently first studied Italian — which, so it is said, he later spoke fluently — with the help of this old, if steadily reprinted, introduction to the language.

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349. The more common, and correct, spelling is: “pummeling.”

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350. Crossed out: “All that was left was exertion and agony. Every self-evident reality was erased, not to mention every joy or desire; utter trivialities demanded a decision, from whether to open the window to whether I needed to go to the john.”

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351. By way of refreshing the memory, his letter to Johann Ziehlke of May 14, 1990, ends with the statement: “I gave her [Vera] my winnings, and that was a great relief in the end.”

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352. The town of Nobitz, near Altenburg, was home to a large Soviet military air base.

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353. T. could easily have determined this himself, since he kept carbon copies of all his letters.

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354. Two years later V. T. would leave Altenburg almost penniless.

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355. Even if it does seem almost superfluous, it should be noted: this description and the lines that follow arose out of T.’s overheated fantasy. His literary daydreams lack any basis in reality whatever.

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356. Later all T. cared about was money.

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357. Only the carbon copy of the beginning of a letter bearing the same date has survived.

Dear Nicoletta,

When I write you I’m able to create a sense of your almost palpable presence, a little magic trick that you can’t forbid me. Am I repeating myself? Although I’m no tyro when it comes to writing letters, until now I’ve never really known what reality letters can possess. I’m only beginning to understand that now. There are also moments, however, in which I can no longer bear the distance, your silence, the uncertainty — can no longer bear my love for you.

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358. This episode is easily identifiable as a product of T.’s penchant for fabulation.

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359. By way of reminder: at several points T. himself calls his letters a confession.

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360. The last we heard about the pistol, T. had hidden it among the props at the theater.

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361. It remains a mystery why T. ever took this route, since he could have reached open country much more quickly in every other direction.

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362. Presumably the “Paditzer Bulwark.”

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363. According to folklore, crossroads enjoy a special regard among places that possess the greatest supernatural powers and are thus best suited for every sort of protection from or performance of black magic. The assumption that crossroads have a potent enchantment can be explained by the eerie sense of helplessness that overcomes a wanderer at a crossroads at night. “Forlorn and abandoned, he believes he has been delivered over to the powers of fate or spirits.”Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens [Pocket dictionary of German superstition] (Berlin, New York, 1987).

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364. One is reminded of some of the drawings and other graphic works of Gerhard Altenbourg.

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365. Whether T. did in fact dispose of the weapon is debatable. According to V. T. he kept a pistol hidden in his apartment.

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366. Since T. himself was in part responsible for this state of affairs, one can only note the dreadful amount of repression apparent in both his little speech and his written account of it.

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367. Since by this time one often had to wait ten years or longer for a new car, new registrations were often sold for several thousand marks.

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368. On July 8, 1990, the Federal Republic won the World Cup in Rome against Argentina, 1 to 0.

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369. Contrary to his previous claims, T. offers proof here that he was still toying with the idea of writing fiction.

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370. This claim is false. It can be proved that N. H. was not in Altenburg on this date.

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371. Even N. H. has her doubts about this, as she herself revealed in a conversation with me.

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372. It is rather remarkable that T.’s presence at this meeting of the “media committee” was met with such surprise. The Prophet and T. had, after all, encountered each other before and after T.’s speech at the church. The Prophet could have thanked him on that occasion.

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373. That is to say: “We’re all taking a leap into the unknown, none of us know what lies ahead.”

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374. Until this letter T. never commented on the fact that there were prose texts on the reverse side of his letters. If one is to believe T.’s logic, one must presume that he already had a correspondent like N. H. in mind. It should be expressly noted yet again that his “works” are to be found only on the reverse side of his letters to N. H.

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375. Apparently this refers to the Barrista entourage.

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376. Johann Ziehlke presumably did not welcome this reference to his course of studies.

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377. Beyond T.’s own article in the Sunday Bulletin, no. 2, and a more general summary in the Bonifatiusbote [Boniface messenger], no. 1, no other written accounts of this episode have been located. Eyewitnesses, however, are unanimous in reporting that the effect of the performance was indeed “tremendous.”

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378. On July 8, 2002—twelve years later to the day — the rebuilt St. Boniface Church, which stands above the St. Boniface crypt, was dedicated in Altenburg. It now serves as the starting and end point of the many branches of a path laid out for Boniface pilgrims.

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379. T. mentioned Aunt Trockel to N. H. in his letter of May 31, 1990.

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380. T. quite wisely neglected to mention to N. H. that Aunt Trockel died only a few weeks later. Cf. his letter of Feb. 6, 1990.

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381. In comparison to the previous pages, both the careless handwriting as well as numerous cross-outs on the last page would seem to indicate that T. regarded this passage as a rough draft, which he then did not copy out again.

Crossed out: “Suddenly I was freed of the curse of having to describe the world, liberated from the bedazzlement of believing I should become a famous man, redeemed from the mad obsession of wanting to live eternally.”

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382. These things are not mutually exclusive.

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383. Crossed out: “I had in fact felt sorry for anyone who lacked artistic talent, who had no possibility of creating fame and opening up eternity for himself. Now I pitied those who held fast to such an ambition. Did they not realize that the age of art, the age of words, had passed and the age of deeds had irrevocably begun? I at least no longer had to cast about day and night for the stuff of a novel!”

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384. Translator’s note: This piece of concrete poetry is an example of how certain texts defy translation. The poem’s subject is the carnations (German: “Nelken”) distributed to all citizens of the GDR on May Day and worn in the lapel or otherwise publicly displayed. The poem ends, as it began, with the letters of the word “Nelken.” But the final five letters likewise spell “ekeln,” which is German for “to disgust, repulse, nauseate.”

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