In the 1970s, Schlink married Hadwig Arnold, who gave birth to their son Jan, and obtained his J.D. The generational conflict expressed by the student protests would later emerge as a central theme in Schlink’s novel The Reader. Though Schlink was not heavily involved in the demonstrations, his interest in them during his student days later manifested in his creative writing. Fueled by poor economic conditions and anger at the remnants of the previous generation’s Fascist past, the student protests peaked in 1968, the same year that Schlink graduated.
In the 1960s Schlink studied at the Free University in West Berlin, where he was able to observe the wave of student protests that swept Germany. After his father was fired from his teaching position for anti-Nazi affiliations, Bernhard and his family moved to Heidelberg, where he grew up. As part of a nightly ritual, the family would read the Bible together after dinner. Their father Edmund was a German theologian, professor, and pastor.
Their mother Irmgard was a Swiss theology student who was deeply concerned with justice and morality and who instilled in her children a sense that they must do good in the world.
Growing up, theology and religion were major influences in the lives of Schlink and his three older siblings. Bernhard Schlink was born in 1944 to Edmund and Irmgard Schlink.
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