Gitta Lindemann

Brigitte Hildegard Lindemann, called Gitta, was born on 11 April 1939 in Dresden. She discovered literature as a girl thanks to her mother's new husband, a teacher who took an interest in her and encouraged her reading. She later recalled that when her grandmother called her to wash the dishes, he would answer: "She is reading. Please let her read." She studied journalism in Leipzig.

After marrying the writer Werner Lindemann, she moved with him to the north in 1968. She worked for the Radio of the GDR in Neubrandenburg, commuting with their two children to the family home in Drispeth near Schwerin. The area was home to many writers, including Christa and Gerhard Wolf, Helga Schubert, Daniela Dahn and Joochen Laabs, and she described the conversations of that time as inspiring and unrepeatable.

After reunification she became head of the culture department of NDR in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a post she took up in 1993. She created the programme Literatur-Café, presenting contemporary authors, and the Sunday evening programme Kunstkaten, which explored cultural topics from the region. She retired in 2002.

In retirement she remained active as a writer. Her memoir Meine Fensterplätze (Okapi-Verlag, 2023) drew on fragments she had kept for decades, and her poetry collection Lautlos (Edition Schwarzer Balken, 2026) was presented at the Leipzig Book Fair in spring 2026. With Werner Lindemann she had earlier published the books Ich freu mich auf den nächsten Tag (1977) and Petermännchens Ausguck (1990).

She was married to Werner Lindemann, one of the best known writers of the GDR, until his death in 1993. Their children were Till Lindemann, later the singer of Rammstein, and his younger sister Saskia. After reunification the family lost the house in Drispeth they had spent years restoring, under the principle of restitution before compensation, a blow she wrote about in her memoir; Till Lindemann later bought the house back. She spoke openly of her pride in her son, writing that if she were not his mother she would gladly have been his friend. She spent her last years in a small village in northwestern Mecklenburg.

Gitta Lindemann died at her home in northwestern Mecklenburg on Saturday 24 October 2026. She was 87. Her family confirmed the death to NDR, and no cause was made public. In early October she had been too ill to take part in an event at the Kunsthalle Rostock marking the 100th birthday of Werner Lindemann; Till Lindemann cancelled his appearance and stayed with her. NDR, Nordkurier and Rolling Stone Germany were among the outlets that reported her death.

For a decade she shaped cultural broadcasting in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, giving writers and artists from the region a platform in the years after reunification. Colleagues at NDR remembered her as inspiring, funny and clever. Her own advice to a young colleague was simple: stay curious, because when curiosity stops, you are old.