Selbstbefragung und Verantwortung in der Nachwendenarration der «Dritten Generation Ost» J'accuse ...!

The still troubled « German-German » relations and, in particular, questions about the « handicap East » dominate the public debate in the Federal Republic of Germany since some time. Criticism of the emotionally heated and dysfunctional communication is growing louder, stating a stagnation of the East-West relations. Against this backdrop, new approaches come not only from the fields of history and the social sciences, but also from authors of the « Third Generation East », who in their post-1989 narratives call for a self-interrogation of East German socialisation processes and intergenerational dialogue. The author, essayist and journalist Anne Rabe belongs to the « Third Generation East ». In her autofictional novel Die Möglichkeit von Glück (2023), she reveals the legacy of violence of the Nazi/GDR dictatorship, exemplified by her own family history. Her approach, which combines essay, archival research and autofiction, can be described as a critical memory project with the theme of responsibility at its centre. With reference to Luhmann’s definition of responsibility, Rabe’s project will be discussed as a political intervention in the tradition of « J’accuse ...! ».