William Tyler
The East German Prison

It may seem strange that in Eastern Germany at the end of WWII, one authoritarian regime, should be replaced by another (Nazism with Marxism). But such was the case, and under the leadership of Walter Ulbricht (1950-71) and Erich Honecker (1971-89), it remained an independent German state for four decades. ‘Independent’ is perhaps not the correct description to use in the case of East Germany, as it was essentially a Russian satellite state. Its survival depended on the use of Russia’s armed forces.

To the average person, East Germany conjures up pictures of Trabants, the Stasi, and the Berlin Wall. Katja Hoyer, in her recently published book ‘Beyond the Wall’, seeks to paint a more nuanced picture. She points out East Germany’s positives such as sport for all, high education standards, and even holidays for the workers. Hoyer writes in the preface of her book, ‘The citizens of the GDR lived, loved, worked and grew old. They went on holidays, made jokes about their politicians and raised their children Their story deserves a place in the German narrative’.

East Germany fell because its citizens finally rebelled, wanting some of the good things in life like the washing machines and television programmes enjoyed in West Germany along with freedom itself. Abandoned by a Russia where Gorbachev was not prepared to support satellite states, East Germany was hung out to dry. The end came swiftly when it did, but problems continued for over a quarter of a century.