Back When We Were Free

A moving love story set between East and West Germany

Berlin, 1988. When spirited Mina meets sensitive Jan, they fall in love despite their differences. But any hope of a future together seems futile, because Jan is studying medicine in West Berlin and Mina is a singer at the legendary Tanzpalast, a nightclub in East Berlin that belongs to her family. At the Tanzpalast, people come together to forget about politics for a few hours and to drink, dance and fall in love. When Mina sets out in search of her biological father, it’s Jan who helps her. On their intrepid journey between East and West, they start to have feelings for each other that are far stronger than they could ever have imagined...

A novel about freedom and shackles, about the walls inside us and around us, and about the search for personal identity

The story of the legendary East Berlin nightclub Tanzpalast and what it symbolises: the spirit of freedom