Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949-1990

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Hoyer does not speculate on the durability of the leaders's political beliefs, but a reader might easily suspect that as evidence of the failure of Marxist economics mounted, attachment to the personal attractions and benefits of authority, power, and dictatorship might have supplanted genuine belief. East Germany's socialist founders certainly had it tough when young. They had been persecuted by the Nazis before the war, and those that survived and fled to the USSR were soon caught up in the deadly Stalin Terror of the late 1930s. Amazingly, incredibly, their Marxist convictions remained firm.

Beyond the Wall - Penguin Books UK Beyond the Wall - Penguin Books UK

Originally under Soviet army occupation following the end of the second world war, East Germany became an independent country on 7 October 1949. But the story Hoyer tells in Beyond the Wall starts much earlier with the German Communist party’s struggle to survive “between Hitler and Stalin”. In the run-up to the second world war, party members faced arrest and torture in Nazi Germany. This drove much of its leadership into exile in the Soviet Union, where most eventually perished, either in the gulags or by firing squad, as victims of Stalin’s purges. Social control was a priority, with often ludicrous thought controls such as regulating the amount of western music teenagers could hear and play, and, of course, establishing the notorious Stasi, which spied on people's lives continuously. It often violently disciplined the livelihoods and liberty of those deemed to be entertaining non-socialist thoughts and habits. Hoyer's own father was Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil. The book was not what I expected. Far from being an analysis of the brutality and repression of the regime and the Stasi, it is an upbeat story of a country which had its own identity and got as much right as it got wrong. By way of example, I had no idea that East Germany had the highest proportion of working women of any country in the world (a proportion which, by the way, has declined since reunification). While the end for East Germany came fast as its economy collapsed and its population actively protested on the streets, Hoyer seems keen to record some elements of its culture as positive. She notes the very high participation rate of women in the labour market, and the concomitant widely deployed state sponsored childcare facilities, both of which far exceeded comparable developments in the West.But, in “Beyond the Wall,” the German historian Katja Hoyer claims that when it comes to the former East German state this characterisation is not the whole story. Ever since German reunification in 1990, inhabitants of the former West German Federal Republic have exhibited a patronising (at best) attitude towards ‘the Osties’, sneering at their obsolete Marxist state, and dismissing their experiences under that state in such a way that the GDR - and the lives of those who grew up under it - have been “written out of the national narrative”. In writing this book about the origins and history of the East German state, Katja Hoyer says her intention is to show that the GDR was “never a passive Soviet satellite” but was instead a distinct political entity with its own “economic, social, and cultural idiosyncrasies”. Hoyer maintains that the GDR “deserves a history that treats it as more than a walled ‘Stasiland’ and gives it its proper place in German history”. a b Conradi, Peter (2023-06-03). "Katja Hoyer tried to tell a different story about East Germany. Now Germans are furious". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460 . Retrieved 2023-06-03. No says Katja Hoyer, the high beer consumption can be attributed to the fact that East Germans simply had fewer worries. In her book "Beyond The Wall," East German-born historian Katja Hoyer challenges the prevailing narrative that portrays life in the GDR as overwhelmingly negative and oppressive. Instead, she argues that many East Germans enjoyed a relatively stable and comfortable life with fewer concerns compared to Westerners. Her book offers a new perspective by delving into the lives of ordinary people, aiming to depoliticize the past and provide a more balanced view of history.

Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949-1990 by Katja Hoyer Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949-1990 by Katja Hoyer

Fazit: „Diesseits der Mauer“ ist ein verständlich geschriebener 500seitiger Abriß über die Geschichte der DDR und das Leben in diesem Staat. Katja Hoyers Sicht ist eine völlig legitime, ihr Anliegen ist es, das ganze Leben in der DDR abzubilden, ihr Fokus liegt nicht auf dem Leben in einer Diktatur. Ihr Buch ist gerade wegen seiner Verständlichkeit hervorragend, sollte jedoch durch andere Sachbücher zum Thema ergänzt werden. a b Peter, Conradi (2023-06-29). "Katja Hoyer tried to tell a different story about East Germany. Now Germans are furious". ISSN 0140-0460 . Retrieved 2023-06-29. While Katja Hoyer relates the troubled gestation of the GDR, the subtlety of “Beyond the Wall” is that it shows that the East German state had some laudable achievements to its name. East German state socialism was able to realise relative female equality and career progression for their citizens - for much of its existence attaining the highest rate of female participation in the workplace in the world - and maintaining a high level of access to university education and lifelong learning. And this book isn’t just dry historical analysis; “Beyond the Wall” is replete with quirky socio-cultural stories such as the tale of Dean Reed (the ultimately doomed ‘Red Elvis’) and the surreal spectacle of the East German state buying up 1 million pairs of Levi’s jeans in a vain attempt to keep a lid on youthful rebellion.

Hoyer animates the story of the people of the East by beginning each chapter with an anecdotal snapshot of a personal event that replicates on an individual level broader political and social developments. Otherwise, her account follows a standard historical chronology of the East. It starts with post-war establishment in the late 1940s, and records the struggle to establish a working economy and society in the 1950s and '60s. Trapped behind barbed wire, but increasingly prosperous, East Germany began to resemble the gilded cage of the eastern bloc, at least in the eyes of its socialist neighbours. However, as Hoyer points out, at least the gilding was real: East Germany really did enjoy the highest standard of living of any socialist state. Unemployment barely existed. Housing was universally available and relatively cheap. Abundant, accessible childcare allowed women to enter the workforce at a higher rate than in any other country in the world. As Erika Krüger, one of the workers Hoyer interviewed, recalled, life in the 1970s and 80s was “quite happy”: “We worked, received our regular wages as well as bonuses for hard work. We got by and had nothing to worry about.” Hoyer argues Germany’s formal division into two separate states in 1949 hadn’t always been inevitable. Initially, Stalin aimed to keep Germany unified and neutral. However, Moscow eventually deemed it necessary to establish a socialist state in East Germany as a buffer between the capitalist West and the socialist East. Indeed w hile the West was rebuilding and forming a partnership with the UK and Americans after World War Two, the Soviet Zone’s gradual nationalisation of the economy made establishing a separate socialist state increasingly desirable to the Russians.

Beyond the Wall by Katja Hoyer review – overturning cliches

The Russians were the main strategists for East Germany as the fledging state developed: they maintained a substantial military presence, to counter NATO and put down popular revolts such as the widespread civilian unrest in 1953. Katja Hoyer (born 1985) [1] is a German historian, journalist and writer. [2] [3] Life and career [ edit ] Yet the process of dismissing the GDR as a footnote in German history is, for Hoyer, “ahistorical”. Like her, millions of Germans alive today “neither can nor want to deny that they had once lived in the GDR”. The system was far from perfect, but along with the “tears and anger”, “oppression and brutality”, there was “laughter and pride”, “opportunity and belonging”. Hence her decision to write a new “warts and all” history of the GDR that places it firmly in the wider German narrative. Beyond the Wall" adds depth to caricatures of East Germany". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613 . Retrieved 2023-06-03.

Hoyer sets out her stall boldly at the start: ‘Perhaps the wounds of separation, of identities lost and gained, were too raw to be examined during the immediate post-reunification era when it seemed preferable to allow them to scab over. Now, it is time to dare to take a new look at the GDR.’ Powerfully told, and drawing on a vast array of never-before-seen interviews, letters and records, this is the definitive history of the other Germany, the one beyond the Wall. Drawing a line under both German states in 1990 was never going to happen. West Germans were too wedded to the idea of 1945 as their “zero hour”, the point at which the tender shoots of democracy grew from the ashes of the Second World War. Proud of West Germany’s prosperity and political stability, they saw it as the continuity state and East Germany as the anomaly. Moody, Oliver (2023-06-29). "Blood and Iron by Katja Hoyer review — Germany: glued together by enemy blood". ISSN 0140-0460 . Retrieved 2023-06-29.

Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949-1990 eBook : Hoyer, Katja Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949-1990 eBook : Hoyer, Katja

BEST BOOKS OF 2023: THE TIMES * SUNDAY TIMES * FINANCIAL TIMES * INDEPENDENT * DAILY TELEGRAPHY * NEW STATESMAN The reunification of Germany on October 3 1990 ended 41 years of division between the democratic West (FRG) and the communist East (GDR). But while West German lives “continued as before,” writes Katja Hoyer, for East Germans reunification “triggered a wave of change whose force, direction and pace were uncontrollable. It was sink or swim.” You may also opt to downgrade to Standard Digital, a robust journalistic offering that fulfils many user’s needs. Compare Standard and Premium Digital here. Diesseits der Mauer" von Katja Hoyer ist eines der interessantesten Sachbücher der letzten Monate. Es beschreibt die Geschichte der DDR. Neben der Zeit von 1949 bis 1990 behandelt es auch die Zeit vor der Gründung der DDR und die Zeit nach der sogenannten "Wiedervereinigung". Ich bin Jahrgang 1969. Ich bin im Westen Deutschlands aufgewachsen. Die Zeit seit den 80er-Jahren habe ich über Tageszeitungen, Magazine und Fernsehen mitbekommen. Das Internet gab es noch nicht. In der Schule kam das Thema DDR nur am Rande vor. Eine Ausnahme war die obligatorische Klassenfahrt nach Berlin (in der siebten Klasse). Hier war auch ein Tag im Osten der Stadt eingeplant. Mir ist eigentümlicherweise nur dieses schöne Lenin-Denkmal, welches wir für unsere Fototapete fotografiert haben, in Erinnerung geblieben. Und die Einweisung der Lehrer ("wenn ihr mit Bürgern sprecht, sagt nicht Ost-Berlin, sondern Berlin Hauptstadt der DDR", die Bürger waren ob unserer Ansprache arg verwundert). Über die DDR sagte das alles wenig aus.This book has enlightened me to a lot of what happened in the country and why. I did feel, however, that the really dark stuff was rather glossed over. Yes, the word "dictator" was used a time or two. The number of people Stalin made disappear in horrific circumstances was stated. It is accepted that the Stasi was feared. Mielke was mentioned many times, but not in any real depth. Also, no light was shone on the ordinary citizens who spied on their families, friends, neighbors, colleagues. Insofern sehe ich in „Diesseits der Mauer“ vor allem eine vertane Chance. Ein an sich interessante Buch-Idee, nämlich die DDR-Geschichte aus der Perspektive des Alltagslebens ihrer Bürger nachzuerzählen, scheitert tragisch an der fehlenden geschichtspolitischen Redlichkeit und der ausbleibenden Bereitschaft zur analytischen Tiefe ihrer Autorin