Beyond the Wall
A History of East Germany
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4.5 • 20 Ratings
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the ashes of the Second World War to the fall of the Berlin Wall, “an expansive and generous history” of East Germany (New Republic)
In 1990, a country disappeared. When the Iron Curtain fell, East Germany ceased to be. For over forty years, from the ruin of the Second World War to the cusp of a new millennium, the German Democratic Republic presented a radically different Germany than what had come before and what exists today. Socialist solidarity, secret police, central planning, barbed wire: this was a Germany forged on the fault lines of ideology and geopolitics.
In Beyond the Wall, acclaimed historian Katja Hoyer sets aside the usual Cold War caricatures of the GDR to offer a kaleidoscopic new vision of this vanished country, revealing the rich political, social, and cultural landscape that existed amid oppression and hardship. Drawing on a vast array of never-before-seen interviews and documents, this is the definitive history of the other Germany, beyond the Wall.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Historian and journalist Hoyer (Blood and Iron) captivates with this compassionate narrative of a lost nation. The German Democratic Republic was founded on October 7, 1949, and "vanished literally overnight" when Germany unified in 1990. Arguing that the German national obsession with Vergangenheitsbewältigung ("the process of ‘overcoming' history") has denied East Germans their past, Hoyer retells the country's short history through the eyes of its soldiers, workers, mothers, and students, capturing the ardor and joy of people striving to build a new nation. Hoyer astutely analyzes East Germany's formative moments, such as Stalin handpicking the country's inaugural leaders—president Wilhelm Pieck and Communist Party head Walter Ulbricht. She heaps criticism on Ulbricht for his lack of charisma and for his harsh work quotas that led to the June 1953 uprising; when Moscow sent in tanks to quell the protests, at least 55 people were killed. She writes that the Berlin Wall, constructed in 1961, was "undoubtedly a human tragedy," but stresses that "the most abiding memories many East Germans have of this time are shaped by the large-scale building projects, new professional opportunities especially for women, families obtaining their first cars," and other modernizations. While readers may question whether this economic gain and social stability made up for the regime's repressiveness, Hoyer's sympathetic chronicle succeeds in reclaiming East German history for the East Germans.
Customer Reviews
American who lived in West Berlin
I was a student in London and decided to go to Berlin in 1986. My fellows from London all chose to go south to France during breaks for warmth (I’m from Los Angeles, they from the US east coast wanting the warm sunshine). This was 1986 when the Cold War was still “hot”. Upon arrival I was at the Zoo Bahnhof and immediately went to Checkpoint Charlie to discover the “real Berlin”. I visited the “OST” a dozen times between 1986 to 1989, trying to grasp life in the East. It was exciting, depressing and amazing, all in. Needless to say I am a Berlinophile to this day. I found this book such an interesting perspective that I’ve passed onto many friends. It showed a lot more of the intricacies of the DDR that I could never find. A fabulous book that I recommend to anyone with an interest in the dictatorship and communism. Must read…
Unbiased Study of East Germany
Fascinating read that is informative without being dry. I appreciate the fact that this book differs so much from what we Gen Xers had available to us about the countries east of the wall (dry, one-sided western propaganda).