LiteraTour Nord: Svenja Leiber, Nelka

Lviv, 1941. Sixteen-year-old Nelka is rounded up by soldiers and deported westward along with numerous other girls and women. On a northern German estate, they are forced to perform hard labor. Her father had taught Nelka about fruit growing at an early age, and even as a child she had helped him graft apple trees. Thanks to this knowledge, she is initially able to fend off the estate manager’s advances. She plans the apple orchards for him, and after the war, the orchards bring him a fortune. Decades later, Nelka returns to the place of her suffering. She wants Marten to remember what she herself must finally free herself from.

In her new novel, Svenja Leiber reveals the traces left by the violent history of the 20th century and forced labor—traces that extend into the present and into the landscapes. She tells the stories of women whose knowledge and bodies were exploited, who formed bonds of friendship and thus stood up against humiliation and brutality. Nelka sheds light on their fates with keen awareness and sensitivity—and preserves their memory.

The novel is on the longlist for the 2026 German Book Prize.

Organizers: Institute of German Studies at the University of Osnabrück, Literaturbüro Westniedersachsen, and Literaturbüro Westniedersachsen

Location: Renaissance Hall at the Ledenhof, Am Ledenhof 3-5

Ticket sales: Altstädter Bücherstuben, Bierstraße 37, Tel. 0541 26391