Mitläufer

Mitläufer - is a follower of a group, supported by his or her presence as organic part of the group. Even not agreeing with the ideas and the ways in which these ideas are put into practice, the Mitläufer is prefering to be rather "in" than "out", by reasons of personal security - keeping the job and the money, advantages for the the members of the family etc. He or her are voiceless - of their and other people's dissatisfactions.

The term was used recently by Herta Mueller, in Bucharest, in relation with the mainstream attitude of Romanian intellectuals during communism. A position I fully agree. Otherwise, how it would be explained the overall silence, and absence of the real dissent during Romanian dictatorship?

Herta Mueller, Nobel Prize in Literature

The profile of the Romanian-born German writer Herta Mueller, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in a family of ethnic Germans, she was both critical against the Ceausescu regime and other communist regimes in Eastern Europe, including the former East German writers who collaborated with the secret police. While she was not extensively published and discussed as an author in her home country- mostly through her positions against members of the cultural and political establishment - in Germany she is well known and appreciated and her works are translated in at least 20 languages. Probably now she will benefit of extensive laudatio and impressive articles.