Hester Vaizey - Born in the GDR: Living in the Shadow of the Wall

In Germany, 9th November is referred to as a Schicksalstag or Destiny Day. It was on this day in 1918 that Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated; it was on this day in 1923 that Hitler first tried to seize power in Munich in the so-called Beer Hall Putsch; it was on this day in 1938 that the Nazis vandalized and looted Jewish synagogues; and, of course, it was on this day in 1989 that the Berlin Wall fell.

To this day, the legacy of Germanys divided past remains evident to all visitors crossing between the Eastern and Western parts of the city. Hordes of tourists continue to visit the remaining preserved section of the Berlin Wall for a reason. For twenty eight years the Wall divided Germany into two countries, and was the most powerful symbol of ongoing Cold War divisions.

East Germans born after the Berlin Wall was built in 1961 knew no other reality. But while life under Communism felt normal to some young people, others felt severely constrained by the travel restrictions, the Stasi surveillance, and the penalties for voicing views different from the Communist leadership. In the twenty-eight years that the Berlin Wall remained up, over 5,000 dissatisfied East Germans successfully escaped across the border. One man hired an American Army Officers uniform from a dressing-up shop and walked across the border, another man smuggled his girlfriend out curled up in the boot of his car.

That left approximately 17 million East Germans living behind the Iron Curtain. This book is interested in those people. How did they experience the transition to a united Germany? How had they been affected by immersion in the Communist culture? And now, twenty-five years on, when enough time has passed to allow for genuine reflection on the impact of the change, how do they feel their lives are marked by the countrys divided past? These are the questions that this book explores. By offering answers to these questions, the book hopes to help readers to imagine what it was like to live through this momentous phase in German history.

Born in the GDR details the individual experiences of eight East Germans, forming a framework to understand the variety of views of the GDR and its demise, looking back from the perspective of a unified Germany. These eight stories are complemented by accounts from many others, to give a broader context. They explore a range of themes relating to life in the GDR, such as religion, the environment, sexuality, travel, and education.

Experiences of this time were far from uniform as the conversations reveal. Through conversations with many East Germans, this book reveals the many and varied ways in which people think about about and make sense of this momentous phase of German history of this time. How people responded to living under Communism undoubtedly informed how they subsequently adjusted to reunion with Capitalist West Germany. Although all of the people featured in this book were born into what is often called Germanys second dictatorship of the twentieth century, they nonetheless remained individuals, each of whom had to live their life and was presented with a set of choices. This book offers eight different perspectives on the transition from East Germany to a united Germany. Each of the stories that follow is about survival, as well as adjusting and adapting to life in the newly established habitat of reunited Germany.