But Now I Owe You Our Debt: The Berlin Letters by Susanne Kerckhoff

– Susanne Kerckhoff, Berliner Briefe, 1948

With these words, the writer Susanne Kerckhoff addressed post-war German society in 1948; she wanted to play a part in shaping it and to work towards making amends. In the years between 1945 and 1950, which Susanne Kerckhoff lived through, she threw herself into the new era, both literarily and politically, uncompromisingly, honestly and with extraordinary clarity of vision.

After 1945, a profound silence reigned in Germany: regarding guilt, responsibility and one’s own complicity in National Socialism. Kerckhoff took a stand against this. In her ‘Berlin Letters’, she wrote against turning a blind eye, addressing guilt and atonement, the search for a new beginning, and morality and humanity in a devastated society.

Who was this woman who intervened so uncompromisingly, both in literature and politics? Why did she fade into obscurity after her death in 1950, and why is it worth reading her work again today?

Lena Bührichen studied literature, art and media studies at the University of Konstanz, as well as literature, art and culture at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. Following her traineeship at the Andreasstraße Memorial and Educational Centre in Erfurt, she has been a research assistant at the Chair of Modern and Contemporary German Literature at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena since 2025.

Peter Graf is a publisher, journalist and recognised expert on 20th-century exile literature. Through his publishing house, Das kulturelle Gedächtnis, he ensures that essential works of literary and cultural history are republished and made accessible to a contemporary audience – including Susanne Kerckhoff’s *Berliner Briefe* and Bruno Frank’s *Lüge als Staatsprinzip* from 1939. He has been working for the Kurt Tucholsky Literary Museum in Rheinsberg since 2025.