The author Christian Ahnsehl will be reading from his book, a thrilling Stasi novel, "Der Ofensetzer", at the Kunsthalle Kühlungsborn on May 28.
1986, in a new housing estate in the north of the GDR: After 15-year-old Tom writes a protest notice on the wall of his school building, he meets Captain Lorenz from the State Security. Tom feels intoxicated. The all-powerful Stasi is interested in him of all people! However, he soon finds himself caught up in a maelstrom of fear and betrayal. His slogan comes from one of those postcards that have been sent out of the city for some time, and Captain Lorenz has to find out who is behind the sender: Is it really just an oven setter called Manfred Heiliger
? Tom is desperate to break away from the Stasi. But Captain Lorenz is obsessed with Heiliger ...
The abuse of children and young people by the Stasi as spies is one of the darker and lesser-known chapters in the history of the GDR. At the age of 15, the Rostock musician and author Christian Ahnsehl signed a declaration of commitment as an unofficial employee of the Stasi. Nine months later, he managed to get out. He wrote about his experiences back then in his highly acclaimed debut novel "Der Ofensetzer" (Grünberg-Verlag 2020). On ... in ... Christian Ahnsehl will read from his novel and answer questions from the audience. The event will be musically framed by Rostock's cult jazz musician Andreas Pasternack, known for his weekly "Jazztime" on NDR 1 Radio MV.
Press quotes (excerpt)
"Another Stasi novel, but what a novel ..."
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frank Pergande
"Christian Ahnsehl's narrative is sober, stylistically confident and convincing. ... A book representative of so many GDR fates. A Stasi thriller - and much more. An important book!"
MDR-Kultur
, Stefan Maelck
"The plot of the novel is artfully interwoven and dynamically composed. ... There is a mysterious dissident who does nothing forbidden, a youth loyal to the state who rebels and is to be recruited, and a Stasi officer with a tragic Stalinist family history. Hidden contradictions, embedded in pure normality, taking place on a dark secret that only emerges from time to time. Superficially no heroes, no villains. Everything takes its socialist course - until the near end."
Torsten Ruchhöft, Risse - Zeitschrift für Literatur in Mecklenburg und Vorpommern
"It's a story about mental cruelty, about perfidy and sincerity, about power and powerlessness ... In the end, the narrative levels collapse - like in a thriller."
Baltic Sea-Zeitung, Matthias Schümann
" ... is exceptionally easy to read, develops a considerable pull and was cleverly conceived. In the end, everything is different than it seemed."
Schweriner Volkszeitung, Monika Maria Degner
"A novel that stays in the memory. ... Christian Ahnsehl has turned reality into literature."
Lübecker Nachrichten, Roland Mischke
"Not a trace of stale subject matter or idealization of the situation, but rather a credible and psychologically coherent development. Here, someone has written down his story; you take it from him."
General-Anzeiger Bonn, Felicitas Zink
"Ahnsehl creates a bleak picture of the GDR that contradicts many a nostalgic glorification. He does this precisely, but with restraint, sparsely and yet very realistically."
Lesart. Independent journal for literature
