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When the famous German novelist Bernhard Schlink was a student in 1960s West Berlin he fell in love with a girl from the other side of the wall. Together they plotted a dangerous escape under the eyes of East German secret police, the Stasi. When his young love Margit died five years ago, Bernhard found himself thinking a lot about his time in West and East Berlin, and wrote a book inspired by it, The Granddaughter, which has recently been translated into English.

Bernhard had been born into Hitler’s Germany and grown up after the war. The knowledge that so many of the older generation had sided with the Nazis had haunted him. Decades later he found fame as a writer with The Reader – a story about a schoolboy's love affair with an older woman who turns out to be a Nazi war criminal. The novel allowed Bernhard to fully address his guilt and was turned into an Oscar-winning film starring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes.

The themes of that novel - what happens when you love someone who's done a terrible thing, why do we feel guilt for something our countrymen have done, how do we live with that responsibility – had taken decades to find their form.

When his young love Margit died a five years ago, Bernhard found himself thinking a lot about his time in West and East Berlin, and has written a book inspired by it. The Granddaughter has recently been translated into English.

Presenter: Jo Fidgen
Producer: Helen Fitzhenry

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(Photo: Bernhard Schlink looks straight at the camera Credit: Alberto Venzago-Diogenes Verlag)