Christoph Hein „Das Narrenschiff“

In the organizer's words:

"The Ship of Fools"

Reading and discussion
Moderator: Thomas Böhm

A state - like all states - is founded for all eternity and disappears almost without a trace after forty years. Have the people who once lived there fallen into oblivion and are their dreams just a fleeting breeze in the epochal winds of time? In his brilliant social novel, Christoph Hein brings together women and men who were assigned the most diverse roles in the founding of the GDR, accompanying them through the dramatic developments of a society in the making, which supposedly represented the better Germany and yet rushed from one failure to the next.
Convinced communists, formerly enthusiastic Nazis, functionaries entangled in intrigues, intellectuals who have managed to salvage their bourgeoisie under real socialism, shoe salesmen, waiters, factory workers, janitors and even a high-ranking Stasi officer all recognize in one way or another that they belong to an involuntary crew on board a community that they increasingly perceive as a ship of fools and whose course is heading towards ever more threatening historical cliffs.

Christoph Hein, born in Heinzendorf/Silesia in 1944, grew up in Bad Düben near Leipzig and lives as a freelance writer in Havelberg. He is regarded as the chronicler of the GDR and has been awarded numerous prizes. His novels are SPIEGEL bestsellers.

"A historical lesson, certainly, but also a literary pleasure in the hands of a shrewd storyteller." Denis Scheck, Der Tagesspiegel

"Christoph Hein has written a powerful novel about the lives of conformists and functionaries in the GDR." Jana Hensel, DIE ZEIT

"[Hein] proves to be the most incorruptible chronicler [of the GDR]. ... With laconic ... Hein develops his magnum opus of a social novel from the power of calm." Ulrich Steinmetzger, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

"You want to read on and on - an impressive historical panorama that shows very well how one can grow into an almost limitless opportunism." Steffen Mau


An event organized by the Brandenburgisches Literaturbüro, the Waschhaus Potsdam and the Literaturladen Wist.

Price information:

incl. advance booking fees