"After the Wall" by Jana Hensel

In her book, After the Wall, Jana Hensel speaks about the night in which the Berlin Wall fell and how much it has changed her lifestyle...At that time, little Jana - who was only thirteen years old- couldn't exactly realize what was going on and what consequences this great historical event would bring for her future. She couldn't even imagine what that symbolic act would represent for her and her peers: it would not only mean the reunification of Germany after a long time of splitting up into EAST and WEST, it would also mean a strong fight against her past memories, habits and identity. After the Wall fell, Jana saw some things were changing around her. GDR (German Democratic Republic) where she had been growing up and which had been in the shadow of Communism for so long was now catching up with developing industries and following the WEST's way of living to convert itself to a free-market economy. She began to read pop magazines, wear trendy clothes and behave as her WEST friends did, letting her habits, her lifestyle and even her accent of an EAST german girl behind her. But although Jana wanted to succeed and be integrated in this WESTern world which was so different from hers, she couldn't avoid feeling awkward when people just looked at her as she was just German. She sometimes wanted to express herself and told everyone that life in EAST Germany wasn't so bad, that her childhood was really happy and full of good memories. But she knew that whatever she said, she and her EAST peers would always be considered as "the sons and daughters of history's losers". Nowadays, despite her efforts in the past to forget her roots, she tries throughout her book to retrace her childhood memories and to remember all these little details that define how she lived, where she's from, and finally who she is.