“Seventh of November” from Berliner Ensemble

Abstract

“Seventh of November” is the central chapter—both in terms of plot and thematic content—of a novel-in-progress, Berliner Ensemble, which is set approximately thirty years following the fall of the Berlin Wall. The novel follows Peter Kokemus, a young American who, shortly after moving to Berlin, is coerced into involvement with a small terrorist group in a Berlin teetering on the edge of social and economic collapse. The group, comprised of young Berliners both East and West, all of whom were infants or small children in 1989, blows up the Reichstag, as well as a series of post offices and historical monuments in Berlin. Peter spends much of the novel being coerced into various violent activities and tries throughout to convince himself he understands why he is involved—and that he wants to be involved—in the work of the group. Thematically, the novel investigates justifications for terrorism and understandings of history, in particular the social and historical legacy of the Cold War and the lived legacy of its collapse for different individuals. In the climactic scenes at the end of the novel, Peter will find himself kidnapped, drugged, and repeatedly threatened by the group.