Memorial

Günther Weisenborn, a young writer from the Rhineland, is celebrated in Berlin in 1928. His play "U-Boot S 4" is a great success at the Volksbühne. Weisenborn moves to Berlin, writes plays, collaborates with Brecht and Eisler to adapt Gorky's novel "The Mother" for the stage, and writes his first novel under the title "Barbarians." In 1933, the book is burned by the Nazis, and his plays are banned. Weisenborn continues to write under a pseudonym, works for the Reich Broadcasting Corporation, and serves as chief dramaturg at the Schiller Theater. In 1937, he joins the resistance group around Harro Schulze-Boysen, which is referred to by the Gestapo as the "Red Orchestra." In 1942, he is arrested and sentenced, and he remains in the Luckau penitentiary until 1945. In 1948, his "Memorial" is published, in which he juxtaposes vivid scenes from resistance and imprisonment with his memories of a previous life in freedom. The book becomes a bestseller in both West and East Germany.