Niven's study is outstanding in several aspects. First, he does what the title of the book advertises in a way that is highly documented yet never longwinded . . . . The astonished reader comes to the fascinating realization that German flight and expulsion were in no way taboo themes in GDR literature; indeed, that on the contrary a great ... Read morenumber of works dealt with these difficult topics in the most diverse ways. [Niven is] even able in the end to reconstruct the origin of the taboo claim . . . . In a word, Niven's is a work of fundamental importance that no future scholar will be able to ignore, and beyond that it suggests numerous directions for future scholarship . . . . The immense amount of work that clearly went into this study does not prevent it from being highly readable.
Jutta Faehndrich
ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR OSTMITTELEUROPA-FORSCHUNG
[M]asterly . . . . This is new knowledge about the GDR and new knowledge about the 'cipher 'flight and explusion.'' Niven's book therefore has to rejuvenate the mediatized public discourse about flight and expulsion of Germans from Eastern Europe. After Niven's book we can't go back.
SEHEPUNKTE
Niven has produced an excellent work that by dint of his thorough and extensive research fully achieves its stated aim. . . . [A] major achievement. JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY EUROPEAN STUDIES [Stuart Parkes] [E]xcellent. . . . [B]reaks new ground. . . . [A]n indispensable guide to anyone who wishes to explore this central but neglected theme in GDR literature. It is an impressive achievement. . . . [T]horoughly recommended. And, true to the standards set by Camden House as perhaps the leading publisher of innovative scholarship on modern German culture, [the book] is beautifully produced.
Joachim Whaley
JOURNAL OF EUROPEAN STUDIES
[Niven] sets out to dismantle the claim of a taboo [on the topics of flight and expulsion in the literature of the GDR]. . . . [His] persuasive and impressive book will make it far more di?cult to make such claims within an academic context and be taken seriously.
Joanne Sayner
MODERN LANGUAGE REVIEW
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