Germany

Germany is portrayed as a complex national landscape shaped by its multifaceted historical legacy, where the physical and psychological remnants of World War II, the Cold War, and the divided Berlin persistently influence contemporary social dynamics. As Richard moves through Berlin, he consistently views the cityscape through the lens of historical memory—recalling his experiences as an infant during WWII, life under East German socialism, and the momentous fall of the Berlin Wall. This historically layered Germany exists in stark contrast to its current incarnation as a wealthy European power struggling to reconcile its humanitarian self-image with increasingly restrictive immigration policies. Erpenbeck deliberately positions sites like Oranienplatz (with its refugee encampment), the repurposed nursing home, and the suburban Spandau as physical manifestations of Germany's ambivalent approach to asylum seekers—keeping them simultaneously visible and invisible, included yet marginalized. The institutional coldness of government buildings, police stations, and bureaucratic...