The Tower

List of characters

Characters have been listed by first name with the exception of those primarily known either by their surname or by a nickname.

ADELING, ‘THEO LINGEN’: head waiter, Felsenburg restaurant

ALICE HOFFMANN: from Ecuador, Sandor’s wife; Christian’s ‘aunt’

ALTBERG, GEORG, ‘THE OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN’: writer of older generation

ALOIS LANGE: former ship’s doctor, lives in the same house as Meno

ANNE HOFFMANN, NÉE ROHDE: nurse, Richard’s wife; Christian’s mother

ARBOGAST, BARON LUDWIG VON: scientist, has his own institute

ARTHUR HOFFMANN: clockmaker, estranged husband of Emmy; Christian’s paternal grandfather

ASZA BURMEISTER: furnace tapper in carbide factory

BARBARA ROHDE, ‘ENOEFF’: Ulrich’s wife, dressmaker; Christian’s aunt

BARSANO, MAX: General Secretary of District Party

BURRE, JAN, ‘NUTELLA’: conscript

CHRISTIAN HOFFMANN: senior high-school student, later conscript

CLARENS: psychiatrist at medical academy

‘COSTA’, LARS DIERITZ: conscript

DÄNE, LOTHAR: music critic

DANIEL FISCHER: Josta’s son by her divorced husband

DIETZSCH: sculptor, lives in the same house as Hans Hoffmann

DREYSSIGER: junior doctor in surgery

EMMY HOFFMANN: Christian’s paternal grandmother, Arthur’s estranged wife

ERIK ORRÉ: actor, lives in the same house as the Tietzes

ESCHSCHLORAQUE, EDUARD: writer, dramatist, Stalinist

EZZO TIETZE: son of Niklas and Gudrun

FABIAN HOFFMANN: son of Hans and Iris; Christian’s cousin

FALK TRUSCHLER: classmate of Christian

FIEBIG, CLÄRE: widow, inhabitant of ‘Tower’ district

GLODDE, MIKE: local postman, engaged to the Griesels’ daughter

GRIESEL, DR: engineer, keeps the house register where Christian’s family live

GUDRUN TIETZE: actress, wife of Niklas; Christian’s ‘aunt’

HANS HOFFMANN: toxicologist, husband of Iris; Christian’s uncle

HANSI NEUBERT: Regine’s son

HEIKE FIEBER: classmate of Christian, artist

HONICH, PEDRO AND BABETT: work in Party organizations, live in the same house as Meno

IRIS HOFFMANN: wife of Hans; Christian’s aunt

INA ROHDE: daughter of Ulrich and Barbara; Christian’s cousin

JENS ANSORGE: classmate of Christian

JOFFE: lawyer, communist

JOSTA FISCHER: Richard Hoffmann’s mistress, secretary in hospital administration

JUDITH SCHEVOLA: young novelist; Meno is her editor

KARLFRIEDE SINNER-PRIEST: ‘Mrs Privy-Councillor’, official in Book Ministry

KAMINSKI, RENÉ AND TIMO: twin sons of important Party member, live in same house as Meno

‘KING’ SIEWERT, RON: Free German Youth secretary at carbide factory

KITTWITZ, DR ROLAND: scientist in Abogast’s institute

KNABE, FRAU: dentist, lives in the same house as Hans Hoffmann and family

KRAUSEWITZ, HERR AND FRAU: live in the same house as Hans Hoffmann and family

KURT ROHDE: Christian’s maternal grandfather

LIBUSSA LANGE: wife of Alois, Czech

LONDONER, JOCHEN: writer on social/political topics, Meno’s ex-father-in-law

LUCIE FISCHER: Josta’s daughter by Richard

LÜHRER: novelist

‘MADAME EGLANTINE’, STEFANIE WROBEL: editor at Dresdner Edition

MAGENSTOCK: pastor of the church in the ‘Tower’ district

MALTHAKUS: owner of stamp and picture postcard shop

MARISA: Philipp Londoner’s partner, Chilean, communist

MARROQUIN, MALIVOR: Chilean, owner of fancy-dress shop, photographer

MENO ROHDE: zoologist, writer and editor at Dresdner Edition; Christian’s uncle

MÜLLER, PROFESSOR: head of surgery

MURIEL HOFFMANN: daughter of Hans and Iris; Christian’s cousin

‘MUSCA’, THILO EBERT: conscript, lance corporal

NIKLAS TIETZE: GP, husband of Gudrun; Christian’s ‘uncle’ (Richard’s cousin)

‘NIP’, STAFF SERGEANT EMMERICH: professional soldier, responsible for the conscripts

‘PANCAKE’, STEFFEN KRETZSCHMAR: conscript, imprisoned with Christian

PHILIPP LONDONER: son of Jochen, academic, economist

REDLICH, JOSEF: editor at Dresdner Edition

REGINE NEUBERT: friend of the Hoffmans whose husband, Jürgen, has fled to the West

REGLINDE TIETZE: daughter of Niklas and Gudrun

REINA KOSSMANN: classmate of Christian

RICHARD HOFFMANN: surgeon; Christian’s father (Anne’s husband)

RITSCHEL: technician in Arbogast’s institute

ROGALLA, STEFFEN: conscript, corporal

RUDEN, JOHANNES: conscript, corporal

SANDOR HOFFMANN: from Ecuador, husband of Alice; Christian’s ‘uncle’ (Richard’s cousin)

SCHADE, PAUL: writer, Party hack

SCHANETT: truck driver at open-cast mine, lives on a farm

SCHEFFLER: rector of Medical Academy

SCHIFFNER, HEINZ: publisher at Dresdner Edition

SCHMÜCKE, NINA: neighbour of Josta, artist, later political activist

SIEGBERT GÜGER: classmate of Christian

SPERBER: lawyer

STAHL, GERHART: husband of Sabine, engineer, lives in same house as Meno

STAHL, SABINE: wife of Gerhart

STENZEL SISTERS: three former circus bareback riders, live in the same house as Christian

SVETLANA LEHMANN: classmate of Christian, committed communist

TEERWAGEN, PROFESSOR: physicist, lives with his wife in ‘Tower’ district

ULRICH ROHDE: Barbara’s husband, Christian’s uncle, managing director of a state-owned company

VERENA WINKLER: classmate of Christian

WENIGER, MANFRED: gynaecologist, friend of Richard Hoffmann from their student days

WERNSTEIN: junior doctor in trauma clinic, marries Ina Rohde

ZSCHUNKE, FRAU: greengrocer in ‘Tower’ district