Artur Becker:

In summer 2005, my journey took me to Warmia and Masuria in Poland. Here there is a lake which is the scene of much of my novella "Die Zeit der Stinte." In 1947, a flying boat landed on the shore of this lake. Three former concentration camp inmates disembarked to kill the former commander of a subcamp of the Stutthof concentration camp, who was hiding in the forest nearby. In my book, the Polish-Jewish lovers Christian Brodd and Mona Juchelka - grandchildren of the victims and perpetrators -- return to this lake fifty years later. As the author, I traveled to Poland to meet the protagonists of my novella - in my imagination, at scenes of my childhood, and in the person of local people and witnesses to the past.

Die Zeit der Stinte - 200 pages, paperback, dtv premium large-format €14,00 (D), €14,40 (A), SFR24,40 – available from March 2006 at Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag. ISBN: 3-423-24497-6

My new novel, "Das Herz von Chopin," is partly set in Bremen, but most of the action takes place in Bartosyce, the Polish town where I was born. Poland's new international role is not an easy one, as the country is caught in the middle and has to bridge the gap created since the borders of the EU were moved to the extreme edge of Eastern Europe and because Poland must mediate between the west and the east - or, more accurately, must continually redefine its status as mediator between Russia and the west. The Orange Revolution in the Ukraine provided a good illustration of this role. Anyone who wants to know more about current relations between Poland and Germany and life in Western Europe for Eastern European immigrants should read "Das Herz von Chopin." My research trip in the summer of 2005 served as the foundation for this new novel.

Das Herz von Chopin, novel, Hoffmann und Campe Verlag
287 pages, hardcover, €22 (D), €22,70 (A), SFR38,90
ISBN: 3-455-40005-1
Published in 2006
Available from September 2006