Four Germanys: A Chronicle of the Schorcht Family

In this last book by the late Donald Pitkin, author of The House thatGiacomo Built, comes a story of the Schorcht family, through whosefortunes and struggles one can see the transformations of Germanythrough the long twentieth century. Each chapter of Four Germanys is reflective of generational ratherthan historical time. In 1922, Edwin Schorcht inherited his family farm,and in Part One, Pitkin traces the derivation of this farmstead. Part Two focuses on Schorcht's children who came of age in Hitler'sGermany. Part Three has the Schorchts growing up in the Ulbrichtyears (1950-73) of the German Democratic Republic. The bookconcludes with the great-granddaughter, Maria, looking back to thepast in relation to the new Germany that history had bequeathed her. Ultimately, Four Germanys reflects the impact of critical historicalevents on ordinary East Germans while it also reveals how one particular family managed its own historical adaptation to these events.