In seiner frühen Kindheit ein Garten

In his widely discussed novel, Christoph Hein tells the story of a father whose child betrayed the family to join the RAF. He also recounts an important, often repressed piece of West German history. When the nationally wanted terrorist Oliver Zurek is fatally injured in a shootout with border protection officers, a political scandal ensues. The official reports of his death—claiming it was suicide—do not match the eyewitness accounts. Oliver's father, a former high school principal, distrusts the authorities and seeks to uncover the truth about his son's death.