Book premiere. Moderation: Christoph Giesa
They vote right-wing, only speak Russian and support Putin? Russian-German (late) repatriates face these and other prejudices. There is a lack of genuine interest and knowledge about the turbulent history of the 2.5 million Russian-Germans living in Germany in our society.
Ira Peter, who moved with her family from Kazakhstan to Germany when she was nine years old, uses her own eventful biography to describe the experiences and conflicts of Russian Germans - from the shame of their Soviet origins to the fatal consequences of short-sighted integration policies and their "susceptibility" to Russian influence, she takes a critical yet sensitive look at Germans who are often perceived as foreign by the majority society. She explains how the dual experience of dictatorship under Stalin and Hitler still shapes Russian-Germans today and makes some susceptible to nationalist thinking. At the same time, Ira Peter shows how heterogeneous the group is and why "being German" is no longer a criterion for being German today.
A book that not only sheds light on the history of Russian-Germans, but also invites readers to reflect on (German) identity and integration.
Ira Peter, born in 1983 in the Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan and living in Germany since 1992, works as a freelance journalist for Zeit online, taz, FAZ, Frankfurter Rundschau and SWR Radio, among others. Since 2017, she has been publicly addressing Russian-German issues - in journalistic articles, social media, cultural projects in Germany and Ukraine, on the Aussiedler podcast Steppenkinder and as a speaker at events.
"German enough?" will be published by Goldmann Verlag on March 19, 2025, 224 pages