Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949-1990

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Undoubtedly the Soviet Union viewed East Germany as a pawn to advance its interests during the Cold War, and the authoritarianism and repression that were characteristic of the Soviet Union were also evident in the East German state.

Beyond the Wall by Katja Hoyer | Baillie Gifford Prize

All of which prompts the question – why did it also build the largest per capita security system the world has ever known? The abrupt dismissal of these witnesses leaves you questioning the purpose of introducing them in the first place. The reunification of Germany on 3 October 1990 marked the end of the division between the democratic West (FRG) and the communist East (GDR), which had persisted since 1949. And looking at the "controversy" surrounding the book in Germany, where various intellectual pygmies are panning it for not covering the eeevil Stasi in enough detail, the self-censorship seems to have been for naught. While Reimann was awarded the government-sponsored Heinrich Mann prize for it, she also became a cult figure among many young East Germans.

Neben der Zeit von 1949 bis 1990 behandelt es auch die Zeit vor der Gründung der DDR und die Zeit nach der sogenannten "Wiedervereinigung". By 1988, the average East German drank 142 litres of beer a year, double the intake of the average West German. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. Yet the gradual nationalisation of the economy in the Soviet Zone, while the Western zones were beginning to rebuild and enter into a constructive partnership with their Anglo-American occupiers, meant that a separate East German socialist state became increasingly desirable for the Russians. In „Diesseits der Mauer“ präsentiert uns Katja Hoyer einen geschichtlichen Abriss der DDR, beginnend mit den Jahren des Moskauer Exils ihrer Gründerväter und -mütter, bis hin zur Deutschen Wiedervereinigung.

Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949-1990 by Katja Hoyer Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949-1990 by Katja Hoyer

To me as an outsider that is obviously reductive and certainly does not deserve to crowd out other interpretations.Published since September 1843 to take part in “a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress. Hoyer walks a fine line between conforming to liberal expectations of history, while carefully and cleverly transgressing them to paint a more sympathetic picture of the DDR than many readers will be used to. I had the same reaction when first reading Katja Hoyer’s Beyond the Wall – not a memoir, not a political analysis of the rights and wrongs of German reunification, but a self-contained history of the forty-one years of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). On the other, the party leadership did what it could to ensure that all East Germans were at least gainfully employed and had their basic needs met.

Beyond the Wall by Katja Hoyer, review: a brilliant warts-and Beyond the Wall by Katja Hoyer, review: a brilliant warts-and

Abundant, accessible childcare allowed women to enter the workforce at a higher rate than in any other country in the world. Hoyer’s East Germany is not, though, the walled-in, Russian-controlled “Stasiland”, whose citizens suffered from constant surveillance and intimidation at the hands of the Ministry for State Security.Hierauf verzichtet Hoyer zumeist, weswegen die in „Diesseits der Mauer“ forcierte Ausgewogenheit eher zu einem false balancing gerinnt. Today, former East Germans often vote for extremist far-right and -left parties, but few long for the old regime.