Ronald M. Schernikau

Ronald M. Schernikau (July 11, 1960 – October 20, 1991) was a German writer. Schernikau was born in Magdeburg and died in Berlin. Schernikau largely wrote about LGBT issues in Germany, and was one of the last people from West Germany to emigrate to East Germany.

Life

His mother moved from Magdeburg, East Germany, to Lehrte, West Germany, in 1966 to reunite with Ronald's father, but upon arriving they discovered that he was a Neo-Nazi and had a second family. Schernikau and his mother remained in Lehrte nonetheless.

At 16, he joined the German Communist Party (DKP). Even before he graduated from high school at Lehrter Gymnasium, his short novel Kleinstadtnovelle was published by Rotbuch Verlag in 1980. The book, which was about coming out as gay in a small town, was a remarkable debut, and the first edition had to be reprinted just a few days after its release. That same year, Schernikau moved to West Berlin, where he joined the Socialist Unity Party of West Berlin (SEW) and enrolled in German, philosophy and psychology at the Freie Universität. During this time, Schernikau wrote for various left-wing publications on topics such as the baking industry and the HIV/AIDS epidemic.