The newly independent Estonia may be moving forward from its dark past, but not quickly enough for young lovers Oskar, an Estonian university student, and Erika, a Baltic German descended from a now defunct nobility. The old prejudices remain, and they are strong between the Baltic Germans and the Estonians who once worked on their estates. 

After meeting Erika’s grandfather to request her hand in marriage, Oskar questions the source of his love: is he merely a slave pining after his master? Does he really love Erika as a person, or is he subconsciously drawn to her ancestry and the dynamics of the old order? 

Published in 1935, I Loved a German is one of the final and best-known works of celebrated Estonian author A.H. Tammsaare. It has been praised for its psychological realism, its diary format and its rare Baltic German perspective, and has been adapted for both stage and screen. 

“The novel, which is presented in diary format, is a wonderfully handsome and tragic love story. At its focal point is the question of love’s existence and debates over national identity. The author engagingly depicts the man’s inner conflicts and also observes the soul of a nation through his eyes – a nation, which has long been the servant class in its own land, but has managed to win an independent state for itself. Yet have the old, ingrained attitudes vanished with the birth of the new country?” – Maarja Vaino (trans. Adam Cullin)