“The GDR [the East German state] wanted resistance fighters to be uncompromising heroes who died with the word ‘revolution’ on their lips.
“The literature centre was the first cultural institution in Neubrandenburg which has opened up its history to discussion in public events,” said Becker.
A newly commissioned book of the Fallada archive’s GDR history was published in 2007, though some critics have accused the author of downplaying the Stasi angle.
In order to persuade Fallada to write the book, Becher, the de facto culture minister, had to tamper with the source material.