IMPLICATION IN YOUNG ADULT NOVELS ABOUT THE GDR: HISTORICAL FICTION FOR A DEMOCRATIC FUTURE

Abstract

This article examines the pedagogical potential of young adult literature about East Germany to help readers reflect on the legacies of authoritarian rule and questions of responsibility, accountability and agency. Drawing on Michael Rothberg's concept of the implicated subject, I argue that young adult literature exploring implication offers crucial frameworks for strengthening democratic consciousness. While much young adult literature about the GDR perpetuates problematic victim/perpetrator binaries that obscure the complex realities of life under authoritarianism, Dorit Linke's Jenseits der blauen Grenze demonstrates an alternative approach. Through analysis of Linke's sophisticated narrative techniques, including her use of fragmented storytelling and montage, I show how the novel positions readers as active interpreters who must recognise patterns of complicity and implication in everyday social relations. Rather than presenting clear-cut heroes and villains, Linke reveals how ordinary people become entangled in systems of power through accommodation, silence and their positioning within social structures that sustain authoritarian rule. This nuanced exploration of implication proves especially relevant for contemporary Germany, where young people face rising authoritarianism and need tools for understanding how individual choices shape political systems and democratic institutions.