The Berlin Wall: 13 August 1961 - 9 November 1989

Frederick Taylor's book is an superb social and political history of the concrete wall that divided the people of East and West Berlin from 1961 to 1989.

This is a fascinating subject. For most of my lifetime up to the fall of the Wall eighteen years ago, a part of Europe not so far from home ran along the lines of a truly authentic Orwellian dictatorship. The notorious East German secret police (the Ministry for State Security or `Stasi') spied, poked and pried into the lives of every single citizen, looking for and punishing any form of dissent against the regime. Even in the Soviet Union, the DDR's `motherland', the ratio of `watched' to `watchers' was never anywhere near as high.

At the end of the Second World War, West Berlin was occupied by the British, French and Americans, with the Soviet Union looking after the East of the city. Shortly afterwards, the border between Soviet-occupied East Germany and the newly proclaimed Republic of West Germany was drawn several miles to the West. Effectively, West Berlin became a `capitalist' island in a communist sea. The Wall was erected around West Berlin in 1961 to stem the flow of East German defectors, hitherto able to permanently vacate life in the 'East' by simply crossing the city. The leaders of the DDR and their Soviet backers claimed at the time that they were trying to prevent 'Westerners' from crossing over to buy cheap Eastern goods but, with defections across the porous border running into thousands every week, it was clear what the real intention was.

Taylor's book charts the history of events leading up to the building of the Wall, subsequent efforts to broker a compromise and the eventual decline of the DDR leading to the toppling of the Wall and German reunification. Amongst the cast are the leading characters of US President John F. Kennedy, Mayor of West Berlin Willy Brandt and the terrifyingly committed East German Presidents, Walter Ulbricht and Erich Honeker. Behind the main story, there are also tales of daring escape attempts through underground tunnels, dark sewers and across the icy waters of the River Spree. There is also plenty of social and cultural background fleshing out the story of how the two halves of the city developed in parallel after the Wall went up. I particularly liked the part about East German punks and the interest the Stasi took in them.

If I have one criticism it is that the late 1970s and early 1980s are dealt with quite quickly. This was `my era' and I would have liked to have read more of Taylor's social history of that time. That is a small criticism really and this is still a marvellous book, very entertainingly written.

Excellent introduction into the politics and history behind the wall (0/0 people found this helpful)

Taylor's flowing style and focus on the affects of the wall on the general population of Berlin as well as the politics behind it's construction and eventual demolition.

There are some heart rendering stories of individual courage which contrast nicely in parts with the paranoid nature of the Cold War. I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone looking for a initial look into the events behind some of the most stark images of the 20th Century.

The Berlin Wall: 13 August 1961 - 9 November 1989

Frederick Taylor

Reader Reviews:

Entertaining history of frighteningly recent events in Europe (0/0 people found this helpful)

Excellent introduction into the politics and history behind the wall (0/0 people found this helpful)

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