I’ve been searching for interesting books about Soviet bloc countries. Specifically, ones about East Germany. I’ll admit that much of my fascination has to do with my adoration for the TV show “The Americans,” and the somewhat idealistic view us Gen-Xers and Millennials have of growing up in America in the 1980s and 1990s (looking at you Stranger Things). The narrative about life in East Germany was so controlled, especially in news and entertainment, that I knew very little about East Germany other than their dominance at the olympic games. As an adult, I know little more than what is now depicted on TV, hyped up for pure entertainment value, thirty years after the Berlin Wall was demolished.
This is a history book. However, the author keeps it interesting by starting each chapter with the story of a specific East German, and what their daily life was like. To me, these slice-of-life stories were the most interesting parts of the book, and provided a necessary counterpoint to the detailed descriptions about the struggle for power and influence between East German and Soviet leadership.
The most interesting part to me was detailed examples about how East German leadership wanted to prove that their country was modern, technologically advanced, and had a brilliant and deep culture of its own. However, the more it restricted access to anything from the capitalist west, the more its people craved forbidden luxury and comfort items. There is an entire section on the trade deals made to procure cotton for East German-made blue jeans. American Levi jeans were the epitome of cool and sold out instantly anytime they became available. In addition, according to this book, Vietnam’s coffee industry was created specifically to provide a steady supply of high-quality coffee beans for East Germany. However, as it takes years for the plants to mature and produce fruit, the coffee industry there didn’t actually take off until after the two Germanies were reunited.
There is so much more to this book and I strongly recommend it to anyone who is interested in a non-cinematic but equally fascinating view of German history after World War II.
On the rising popularity of western pop music in the 1960s, as explained by East German cultural leadership
Some of the “songs” on offer were served up with screams and inarticulate noises to an audience consisting mostly of teenagers who, whipped up by the music, carried out degenerate motions.
― Katja Hoyer, Beyond the Wall: A History of East Germany
On subsidized housing
From 1971, the rates paid were means-tested, allowing working class families with children privileged access. A four-person household in West Germany spent around 21 percent of their net income on rental costs while a similar household in the East only needed 4.4 percent.
― Katja Hoyer, Beyond the Wall: A History of East Germany
On creating a steady supply of coffee to East German citizens
This project was hugely successful, perhaps one of the most effective aid projects ever conducted. Vietnam is now the world’s second largest producer of coffee, producing around 30 million 60-kilogram bags every year, and its industry employs 2.6 million people. Its Robusta beans have a high caffeine content and are ideal for granular and instant coffee, which is drunk in large quantities around the world. Only 6 percent of the produce is used nationally, while the rest is exported at an estimated annual worth of $3 billion.
― Katja Hoyer, Beyond the Wall: A History of East Germany
On East/West border interrogations
The last diplomatic crisis had been all too recent. A month earlier, a West German man, who had travelled through the GDR, had died of a heart attack when questioned by border guards in a barrack in Drewitz, Saxony-Anhalt. As such, this was nothing out of the ordinary. The psychological pressure that East German border guards deliberately built up during questioning proved too much for an estimated 350 people in total who died of heart failure at inner-German checkpoints.
― Katja Hoyer, Beyond the Wall: A History of East Germany
On creative marketing
Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart,” was officially used to refer to the Berlin Wall.
― Katja Hoyer, Beyond the Wall: A History of East Germany
On opportunities for women
In other fields too, female ambition had become the norm. By 1988, over 90% of East German women fought their own battles in the workplace. The GDR had reached the highest rate of female employment in the world as women entered every last bastion of previously exclusively male domains.
― Katja Hoyer, Beyond the Wall: A History of East Germany
