Born in the GDR : life in the shadow of the Wall / Hester Vaizey.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Vaizey, Hester, 1981- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Berlin Wall, Berlin, Germany, 1961-1989--Personal narratives.

Berlin Wall, Berlin, Germany, 1961-1989.

History.

Germany (East)--Biography.

Germany (East).

Germany.

Germany (East)--Social conditions.

Social conditions.

Berlin (Germany)--Biography.

Berlin (Germany).

Berlin (Germany)--Social conditions.

Germany--History--Unification, 1990--Personal narratives.

Berlin (Germany)--History--1945-1990--Personal narratives.

Genre:

Biographies.

Personal narratives.

Physical Description:

xiii, 224 pages : illustrations, facsimilies ; 23 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2014.

Summary:

The changes that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 were particularly dramatic for East Germans. With the German Democratic Republic effectively taken over by West Germany in the reunification process, nothing in their lives was immune from change and upheaval: from the way they voted, the newspapers they read, to the brand of butter they bought. 0But what was it really like to go from living under communism one minute, to capitalism the next? What did the East Germans make of capitalism? And how do they remember the GDR today? Are their memories dominated by fear and loathing of the Stasi state, or do they look back with a measure of fondness and regret on a world of guaranteed employment and low living costs?

Contents:

Petra : shaping the change

Carola : seeing the contradictions

Lisa : accepting the circumstances

Mario : feeling the regime's wrath

Katharina : believing in God under pressure

Robert : supporting the idea of socialism

Mirko : rejecting the party line

Peggy : feeling safe and secure

Interpreting the end of East Germany.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-217) and index.

ISBN:

9780198718734

019871873X

OCLC:

875151720