Among contemporary German-Romanian writers who began a new life and career in Germany, Herta Müller is undoubtedly the most successful, especially after receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2009. Born August 17, 1953, in Nitzkydorf, Banat, Romania, she left the country in 1987 after she and her then husband, writer Richard Wagner, endured persecution under Ceauşescu’s totalitarian regime. In Germany, as she has stated in many interviews, Müller as well as Wagner wanted to be accepted as political refugees, not as ethnic Germans. Müller and Wagner’s application for political asylum complicated and delayed the process of establishing their status in Germany, since what German immigration officials were looking for was proof of German ethnicity, even if it meant disclosing a…
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Citation: Glajar, Valentina. "Herta Müller". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 January 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12545, accessed 21 November 2024.]
