Across Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in 80 Days Author Reading with Steffen Dobbert
Returning to an Exciting State—A Travel Report. Here’s someone coming back. After many years. Curious, eager. What has changed in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern? Steffen Dobbert was eight years old when the GDR became a thing of the past. Eight years old when he went from being a young citizen of a self-proclaimed socialist state to one in a unified Germany. Wismar, Gadebusch, Schwerin—places he called home early in life. He left them at just under 20 to become an award-winning journalist. And now, nearly 30 years after the founding of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, a journey. A journey in 80 days through that world that was home (and still feels like it). So what is home? Steffen Dobbert explores a land he comes to know intimately, even if some things remain unfamiliar. He talks to people, encounters hurt feelings and clichés, and, above all, discovers the unknown. Steffen Dobbert’s journey through northeastern Germany is a journey into the heart of our republic—into a land like life itself: sometimes joyful, sometimes sad, sometimes perplexing, but mostly reconciling. And always exciting and full of variety.
