In 1979, when he received a long-term visa to leave the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and settled near Itzehoe in the Federal Republic of Germany, Günter Kunert was one of the most widely read authors in the GDR, despite having been the target of increasing official criticism in the years prior to his departure. Even while living in the East he had been published, widely read, and quoted in West Germany; a 1984 West German bibliography of critical literature on Kunert lists over two hundred items. With some justification, therefore, Kunert considers himself not an "East German author" but a "German author."

Born in Berlin in 1929, four years prior to the Nazi takeover of Germany, Kunert was subjected to discrimination and persecution as a child because his mother was Jewish. His educational opportunities were limited to grade school and an apprenticeship in a retail store until 1946, when he...