he end of the Cold War and the reunification of Germany effectively erased East Berlin and East Germany from history. The German Democratic Republic is as little understood today as it was, perhaps, then locked as it was between the United States and the Soviet Union in the great political struggle of the 20th century. It was however, as Katja Hoyer brilliantly shows in her superlative new book “Beyond the Wall” very much its own place, with its own people and politics. Understanding this history is interesting for readers, but critical to addressing long-simmering challenges within modern, unified Germany.
At a psychological level, there remains a deep west-east divide. Angela Merkel, the former prime minister, was herself from East Germany. Despite reaching the apex of German political power, she continued to encounter a measure of “otherness,” something Hoyer powerfully recounts in the opening “Beyond the Wall”.
Merkel’s feeling of otherness, while deeply personal, reflects broader tangible questions of history and reunification. Hoyer writes, “Take a map showing patterns of almost anything in Germany and often the old East-West fault lines will appear from voting, vaccines acceptance and obesity to language use, attitudes towards Russia and wine consumption. Like an afterimage that will not fade, the GDR’s imprint in Germany refuses to dissipate.”
For the United States and the democratic West, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany was an endpoint. Not so for Germany. According to Hoyer, “Like unification in 1871, reunification nearly 120 years later should be understood as a way maker on Germany’s quest for unity rather than its happy ending.” This is a powerful framework through which to consider the pivotal moments at the close of the Cold War.
That Hoyer captures the GDR story so powerfully is anything but a surprise. Her history of the rise and fall of the German Empire, “Blood and Iron,” is a rich, insightful look at a critical period of German and European history. The story of the German Empire is, however, one that is very much overlooked; a shadow in the face of the World Wars that followed. In “Beyond the Wall” Hoyer brings this same rich attention to detail and grounded, fluid storytelling to the GDR that she did to the German Empire. It is history at its finest, blending politics, culture, and history, with deeply personal stories that take readers inside a country few understood then, and even fewer do now.
Hoyer superbly places East Germany in its own context. Too many histories of East Germany and the GDR put it into a Cold War story—it is merely a battleground, pawn, or setting for the fight between the United States and the Soviet Union, and nothing else. Naturally, “Beyond the Wall” does cover the GDR’s relations with Moscow and the pivotal moments of the Cold War, but that is an ancillary part of the story. It is inescapable but does not define East Germany’s history any more than the Cold War defines the entirety of the history of Russia. It is an important part to be sure, but there is much more to the story.
“Beyond the Wall” is a deeply human story of East Germany. Hoyer introduces the reader to a fascinating cast of characters, each of whom has a story to tell and who is inextricably linked to the story of the German Democratic Republic. It is an inspired way to bring to life what is often seen as a gray, monochromatic sideshow to the broader Cold War. In providing these snapshots into not just the great and good—the historical and political figures—but the average GDR citizen, as well, she creates a new portrait of East Germany using a vivid color palette.
Hoyer even has her own cameo in the story. Originally from East Germany, at age four Hoyer was visiting Berlin’s Fernsehturm with her father. Looking down at the square below, she sees police cars racing about, taking people into custody. As she recounts, less than a month later, the Berlin Wall would fall; within a year, the German Democratic Republic would cease to exist, and the Cold War would be over.
These stories and anecdotes bring a human face to the GDR but also returns agency to the East Germans themselves. Of course, there were dissidents and opposition figures, many of whom suffered violently at the hands of the Stasi, but the GDR was also a polity made up of people looking to find their own ways, provide for their families, and exist within the system that they knew and understood, particularly after the tumult of World War II. This is too often omitted in Western narratives and histories. As Hoyer writes, “What the German public wanted was not an array of parties on a voting slip every four years but food on the table, a restored roof over their heads and a future without war and economic disaster.”
There is a richness to these accounts. How families went on holiday or secured appliances and cars. How East Germany achieved (with not-insignificant doping) sporting successes on the international stage. How women achieved a marked measure of equality not seen in West Germany through greater educational opportunities, state-run childcare, and greater prominence in the workplace. Ironically, the GDR’s desire to meet the increased demand for Western goods may have unintentionally sown the seeds of its downfall. She writes, “The material comfort Honecker [the leader of the GDR until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall] imported for East Germans may have temporarily increased happiness and life satisfaction but it also sowed the seeds of doubt in people’s minds and left the GDR wandering through its third decade without a clear sense of direction.”
Hoyer’s account does not shy away from East Germany’s shortcomings and political oppression. The ever-present Stasi do feature throughout the account, but this is not a story about heavy-handed state security or one that panders to simplistic stories of good and evil. Of course, the establishment of the Berlin Wall features, as do stories of people bravely trying to escape to the West, but this was not the experience of most of the East Germans. Some could see this as an apologists account—indeed Hoyer has attracted criticism in Germany for not being critical enough. This reflects more of the reader or reviewer than Hoyer herself. “Beyond the Wall” is superbly titled because that is precisely where Hoyer takes readers, from the frontlines of the scar that marred Berlin, to the experience of everyday East Germans and how their experiences fit within a historical and political context.
Hoyer also tells the story of how for as much as the GDR’s political leadership was beholden to and reliant on Moscow, particularly for resources such as oil, it sought to chart its own path and destiny. Leonid Brezhnev said, “Without us, there is no GDR,” and East Germany was very much a client state subject to the decisions of politicians 1,800 kilometers to its east. In the aftermath of World War II, the Kremlin imposed stiff reparations, expropriating resources, expertise, and finished products, hobbling the GDR’s economy. East Germany’s reliance on Moscow for cut-price energy in some ways presaged modern Germany’s reliance and vulnerability to the Kremlin’s whims.
On the international stage, East Germany sought to navigate a complex path between West Germany and the Soviet Union, but also among its fraternal communist allies. Hoyer recounts the fascinating story of how a shortage of coffee (critical to the public’s happiness, something with which I can relate) led to East Germany exporting agricultural and industrial expertise to Vietnam. This in turn helped jump start Vietnam’s coffee industry, which soon became and remains one of the largest in the world. The GDR sought to leverage its industrial and engineering expertise and offered opportunities for its people to travel to fellow socialist states for terms of service at better wages than could be earned at home. More shockingly, she writes of how the government leveraged political undesirables and family connections to generate hard currency and import goods in what was tantamount to state-backed human trafficking.
The unification of Germany is fascinating from East Germany’s perspective. As Hoyer writes, “Yet East Germans have not been asked to return to something they were once part of but to blend into a West German state that had evolved without them after the Second World War.” She adds, “It is tempting to see 3 October 1990 as the restoration of Germany’s status quo. But this interpretation equates ‘West Germany’ with ‘normal.’” The distinction between East and West remains unresolved, even three decades later, and it remains unclear when those distinctions will truly be erased.
The reaction against Hoyer’s book reflects an unwillingness on the part of significant parts of Germany to reconcile its GDR history. As Hoyer writes, the end of the Cold War and the division of Germany meant that East was rejoining the “normal” West, leaving the East as alien or foreign, even still today. If the East was abnormal, there would seemingly be little incentive to accept or acknowledge its differences, or to reevaluate the West’s own history during that period, an attitude that continues today. Popular television programs on Netflix like “Kleo” and films such as “Goodbye Lenin” seem to have done more than the government to both publicly recognize the lasting division between East and West and attempted to bridge the cultural and historical divide albeit through popular entertainment. Yet, addressing this cognitive and psychological division is critical to addressing any number of problems, such as those identified by Hoyer.
“Beyond the Wall” is not just a superb history of East Germany. It is most certainly that, but it is also an outstanding history, full stop. Hoyer’s blend of deeply personal and human stories with high politics and culture brings the story of the GDR vividly to life and shows how the legacy of East Germany is very much alive in Germany and Europe today. Hoyer is rapidly emerging as one of the finest historians writing today. Her ability to craft richly detailed, absorbing narratives is impressive and yields supremely engrossing books. “Beyond the Wall” confirms that the success of “Blood and Iron” was not a one-off, and I, for one, eagerly await her next book.
a global affairs media network
Upstairs, Downstairs in East Germany
The Berlin Wall, separating East and West Germany. Photo by Morgana Bartolomei via Unsplash.
May 21, 2023
For the U.S. and the West, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany was an endpoint. Not so for Germany. “Like unification in 1871, reunification nearly 120 years later should be understood as a way maker on Germany’s quest for unity rather than its happy ending."
T
he end of the Cold War and the reunification of Germany effectively erased East Berlin and East Germany from history. The German Democratic Republic is as little understood today as it was, perhaps, then locked as it was between the United States and the Soviet Union in the great political struggle of the 20th century. It was however, as Katja Hoyer brilliantly shows in her superlative new book “Beyond the Wall” very much its own place, with its own people and politics. Understanding this history is interesting for readers, but critical to addressing long-simmering challenges within modern, unified Germany.
At a psychological level, there remains a deep west-east divide. Angela Merkel, the former prime minister, was herself from East Germany. Despite reaching the apex of German political power, she continued to encounter a measure of “otherness,” something Hoyer powerfully recounts in the opening “Beyond the Wall”.
Merkel’s feeling of otherness, while deeply personal, reflects broader tangible questions of history and reunification. Hoyer writes, “Take a map showing patterns of almost anything in Germany and often the old East-West fault lines will appear from voting, vaccines acceptance and obesity to language use, attitudes towards Russia and wine consumption. Like an afterimage that will not fade, the GDR’s imprint in Germany refuses to dissipate.”
For the United States and the democratic West, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany was an endpoint. Not so for Germany. According to Hoyer, “Like unification in 1871, reunification nearly 120 years later should be understood as a way maker on Germany’s quest for unity rather than its happy ending.” This is a powerful framework through which to consider the pivotal moments at the close of the Cold War.
That Hoyer captures the GDR story so powerfully is anything but a surprise. Her history of the rise and fall of the German Empire, “Blood and Iron,” is a rich, insightful look at a critical period of German and European history. The story of the German Empire is, however, one that is very much overlooked; a shadow in the face of the World Wars that followed. In “Beyond the Wall” Hoyer brings this same rich attention to detail and grounded, fluid storytelling to the GDR that she did to the German Empire. It is history at its finest, blending politics, culture, and history, with deeply personal stories that take readers inside a country few understood then, and even fewer do now.
Hoyer superbly places East Germany in its own context. Too many histories of East Germany and the GDR put it into a Cold War story—it is merely a battleground, pawn, or setting for the fight between the United States and the Soviet Union, and nothing else. Naturally, “Beyond the Wall” does cover the GDR’s relations with Moscow and the pivotal moments of the Cold War, but that is an ancillary part of the story. It is inescapable but does not define East Germany’s history any more than the Cold War defines the entirety of the history of Russia. It is an important part to be sure, but there is much more to the story.
“Beyond the Wall” is a deeply human story of East Germany. Hoyer introduces the reader to a fascinating cast of characters, each of whom has a story to tell and who is inextricably linked to the story of the German Democratic Republic. It is an inspired way to bring to life what is often seen as a gray, monochromatic sideshow to the broader Cold War. In providing these snapshots into not just the great and good—the historical and political figures—but the average GDR citizen, as well, she creates a new portrait of East Germany using a vivid color palette.
Hoyer even has her own cameo in the story. Originally from East Germany, at age four Hoyer was visiting Berlin’s Fernsehturm with her father. Looking down at the square below, she sees police cars racing about, taking people into custody. As she recounts, less than a month later, the Berlin Wall would fall; within a year, the German Democratic Republic would cease to exist, and the Cold War would be over.
These stories and anecdotes bring a human face to the GDR but also returns agency to the East Germans themselves. Of course, there were dissidents and opposition figures, many of whom suffered violently at the hands of the Stasi, but the GDR was also a polity made up of people looking to find their own ways, provide for their families, and exist within the system that they knew and understood, particularly after the tumult of World War II. This is too often omitted in Western narratives and histories. As Hoyer writes, “What the German public wanted was not an array of parties on a voting slip every four years but food on the table, a restored roof over their heads and a future without war and economic disaster.”
There is a richness to these accounts. How families went on holiday or secured appliances and cars. How East Germany achieved (with not-insignificant doping) sporting successes on the international stage. How women achieved a marked measure of equality not seen in West Germany through greater educational opportunities, state-run childcare, and greater prominence in the workplace. Ironically, the GDR’s desire to meet the increased demand for Western goods may have unintentionally sown the seeds of its downfall. She writes, “The material comfort Honecker [the leader of the GDR until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall] imported for East Germans may have temporarily increased happiness and life satisfaction but it also sowed the seeds of doubt in people’s minds and left the GDR wandering through its third decade without a clear sense of direction.”
Hoyer’s account does not shy away from East Germany’s shortcomings and political oppression. The ever-present Stasi do feature throughout the account, but this is not a story about heavy-handed state security or one that panders to simplistic stories of good and evil. Of course, the establishment of the Berlin Wall features, as do stories of people bravely trying to escape to the West, but this was not the experience of most of the East Germans. Some could see this as an apologists account—indeed Hoyer has attracted criticism in Germany for not being critical enough. This reflects more of the reader or reviewer than Hoyer herself. “Beyond the Wall” is superbly titled because that is precisely where Hoyer takes readers, from the frontlines of the scar that marred Berlin, to the experience of everyday East Germans and how their experiences fit within a historical and political context.
Hoyer also tells the story of how for as much as the GDR’s political leadership was beholden to and reliant on Moscow, particularly for resources such as oil, it sought to chart its own path and destiny. Leonid Brezhnev said, “Without us, there is no GDR,” and East Germany was very much a client state subject to the decisions of politicians 1,800 kilometers to its east. In the aftermath of World War II, the Kremlin imposed stiff reparations, expropriating resources, expertise, and finished products, hobbling the GDR’s economy. East Germany’s reliance on Moscow for cut-price energy in some ways presaged modern Germany’s reliance and vulnerability to the Kremlin’s whims.
On the international stage, East Germany sought to navigate a complex path between West Germany and the Soviet Union, but also among its fraternal communist allies. Hoyer recounts the fascinating story of how a shortage of coffee (critical to the public’s happiness, something with which I can relate) led to East Germany exporting agricultural and industrial expertise to Vietnam. This in turn helped jump start Vietnam’s coffee industry, which soon became and remains one of the largest in the world. The GDR sought to leverage its industrial and engineering expertise and offered opportunities for its people to travel to fellow socialist states for terms of service at better wages than could be earned at home. More shockingly, she writes of how the government leveraged political undesirables and family connections to generate hard currency and import goods in what was tantamount to state-backed human trafficking.
The unification of Germany is fascinating from East Germany’s perspective. As Hoyer writes, “Yet East Germans have not been asked to return to something they were once part of but to blend into a West German state that had evolved without them after the Second World War.” She adds, “It is tempting to see 3 October 1990 as the restoration of Germany’s status quo. But this interpretation equates ‘West Germany’ with ‘normal.’” The distinction between East and West remains unresolved, even three decades later, and it remains unclear when those distinctions will truly be erased.
The reaction against Hoyer’s book reflects an unwillingness on the part of significant parts of Germany to reconcile its GDR history. As Hoyer writes, the end of the Cold War and the division of Germany meant that East was rejoining the “normal” West, leaving the East as alien or foreign, even still today. If the East was abnormal, there would seemingly be little incentive to accept or acknowledge its differences, or to reevaluate the West’s own history during that period, an attitude that continues today. Popular television programs on Netflix like “Kleo” and films such as “Goodbye Lenin” seem to have done more than the government to both publicly recognize the lasting division between East and West and attempted to bridge the cultural and historical divide albeit through popular entertainment. Yet, addressing this cognitive and psychological division is critical to addressing any number of problems, such as those identified by Hoyer.
“Beyond the Wall” is not just a superb history of East Germany. It is most certainly that, but it is also an outstanding history, full stop. Hoyer’s blend of deeply personal and human stories with high politics and culture brings the story of the GDR vividly to life and shows how the legacy of East Germany is very much alive in Germany and Europe today. Hoyer is rapidly emerging as one of the finest historians writing today. Her ability to craft richly detailed, absorbing narratives is impressive and yields supremely engrossing books. “Beyond the Wall” confirms that the success of “Blood and Iron” was not a one-off, and I, for one, eagerly await her next book.
