THE DOG'S HOME - East Germany, My Family, and Other Wonders

An East German story that has not been told before.

As a child, Don Pablo Mulemba, the son of an Angolan contract worker and an East German woman, constantly had to explain his skin color. He naturally saw himself as German. He spoke the same dialect as everyone else, knew nothing but the Brandenburg provinces - yet he was repeatedly made to feel like a foreigner. His parents had met in the GDR, but the post-reunification East was no longer a safe place for them and their children. It was the “Combat Boot Years”; his friend Amadeu Antonio was beaten to death in the streets of Eberswalde.

The family was torn apart: His parents saw no future and emigrated to Angola. But Pablo chose to stay. At twelve, he went to a sports boarding school in Cottbus and had to find his way as a Black adolescent.

Today, he confronts the crucial questions of identity, home, and belonging - questions that lead him on a shared journey with his father back to Angola. Don Pablo Mulemba's story is also the history of reunited Germany: with its wounds, ruptures, and the determination to nonetheless build a future - told vividly, intimately, and authentically.