- Summary
- Karoline Kleinert never knew her grandfather, and her family mentioned him only fleetingly. Not even a photo has survived. But when she began researching his life, she quickly realised that his life story resembled the plot of a spy thriller. Heinz Lippmann, she discovered, was born in 1920s Berlin to a Jewish factory owner. As a "half Jew", he survived Auschwitz thanks to the help of fellow detainees, who turned out to be communists. After the war, he made a major contribution to the founding of the Free German Youth, the official communist youth organisation in East Germany. He climbed through its ranks, eventually becoming Erich Honecker's second in command. In 1953 he absconded to the West with 300,000 Deutschmarks from the organisation's coffers. He had previously divorced Karoline's grandmother, and left her and their son behind without a word of explanation. But who was he really, this man who was the subject of newspaper headlines that called him the "Red bon viveur" and the "coffer thief", the man who cooperated with West Germany's security services to escape a charge of "endangering the state"? In 1971 he made waves by authoring the first biography of Honecker, yet died only three years later aged 52. --Provided by publisher.
- Format
- Book
- Author/Creator
- Kleinert, Karoline, 1977-
- Published
- Reinbek : Rowohlt, 2018
- Locale
- Germany (East)
- Edition
- 1. Auflage
- Contents
-
Einleitung
Wurzeln
Familiengeschichten
Nicht hier und nicht dort
Eine schicksalhafte Entscheidung
In allergrösster Dunkelheit
Ein neues Leben
Ein anderes Deutschland
Auf dem Weg nach oben
Auf der Flucht
Zwischen den Welten
Nirgendwo
Falsche Freunde
Im Netz der Geheimdienste
Am Ende des Weges
Epilog
Personenverzeichnis
Anmerkungen.
- Notes
-
Biography.
Includes bibliographical references.
Einleitung -- Wurzeln -- Familiengeschichten -- Nicht hier und nicht dort -- Eine schicksalhafte Entscheidung -- In allergrösster Dunkelheit -- Ein neues Leben -- Ein anderes Deutschland -- Auf dem Weg nach oben -- Auf der Flucht -- Zwischen den Welten -- Nirgendwo -- Falsche Freunde -- Im Netz der Geheimdienste -- Am Ende des Weges -- Epilog -- Personenverzeichnis -- Anmerkungen.
