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Showing posts with label East Germany. Show all posts
Showing posts with label East Germany. Show all posts
24 January 2015
Title
| Lieb Vaterland mags ruhig sein |
Author
| Johannes Mario Simmel |
Publisher
| Droemersche Verlag |
Publication Date
|
1965
|
Pages
| 699 |
Genre
| history, novel |
Blurb:
Translated from German by Peggy Farooqi
This epic novel tells the story of a man with a somewhat shady past who gets sucked into the dark worlds of the secret services both from East and West Germany shortly after the erection of the German wall in 1964. We get to see the colourful sides of Berlin, and on both sides of the wall and get to know the people who plan, finance and build the escape tunnels from East to West.
My review:
This book has only been published in German and as far as I am know, not been translated into English. As it is a rather big book, I have not attempted the translation myself (I sometimes do this for my own purposes only, as, of course, I don't have the permission from the publisher to distribute a translation). So all my English only readers will not get the chance to read this book, but I would still like to publish a review on it to log all the books I read. And, I believe there are some other Simmel books which have been translated and it is well worth picking them up! Most are long and epic works, but very detailed.
Here, the story starts with a rather large lady being stuck in a hole. Except... this is the entrance hole to a tunnel. A tunnel which has been dug illegally and under threat of being shot dead which leads from East to West Berlin and allows people to flee into the West. Bruno Knolle, in his 40's, has just come out of jail in East Berlin and also comes through the same tunnel, escaping into the West. But not all is like it seems with Bruno. His 'escape' into the West is orchestrated and he has orders what to do. But Bruno is just a simple man dreaming from having his own pub and being with his girl, Nellie. But he gets sucked into the dark world of secret services on both sides.
We meet many different characters, and even the most minor characters (who may be just mentioned once for a couple of pages) are beautifully drawn and we feel that we know all about them. Often, characters in his books interconnect later on and we 'meet' them again. Simmel also always has a message in his books - mainly that we are all humans living on this earth. Here specifically I find he shows the idiocy and ridiculousness of the devision of Berlin. Of course it was dead serious, but having the benefit of hindsight now it just sound so silly how the secret services worked against each other - often even with double agents who swap sides several times. I also find it simply incredible that this book was published in 1965 and while we know that history has long moved on, the writing is flawless and current.
Simmel's books are not a small feast, but you will find yourself lost in it quickly and before you know it, you have read over 700 pages.
Here, the story starts with a rather large lady being stuck in a hole. Except... this is the entrance hole to a tunnel. A tunnel which has been dug illegally and under threat of being shot dead which leads from East to West Berlin and allows people to flee into the West. Bruno Knolle, in his 40's, has just come out of jail in East Berlin and also comes through the same tunnel, escaping into the West. But not all is like it seems with Bruno. His 'escape' into the West is orchestrated and he has orders what to do. But Bruno is just a simple man dreaming from having his own pub and being with his girl, Nellie. But he gets sucked into the dark world of secret services on both sides.
We meet many different characters, and even the most minor characters (who may be just mentioned once for a couple of pages) are beautifully drawn and we feel that we know all about them. Often, characters in his books interconnect later on and we 'meet' them again. Simmel also always has a message in his books - mainly that we are all humans living on this earth. Here specifically I find he shows the idiocy and ridiculousness of the devision of Berlin. Of course it was dead serious, but having the benefit of hindsight now it just sound so silly how the secret services worked against each other - often even with double agents who swap sides several times. I also find it simply incredible that this book was published in 1965 and while we know that history has long moved on, the writing is flawless and current.
Simmel's books are not a small feast, but you will find yourself lost in it quickly and before you know it, you have read over 700 pages.
About the author:
17 March 2014
Title
| Stasiland |
Author
| Anna Funder |
Publisher
| Granta Books |
First Published
|
September 2011
|
Pages
| 288 |
Genre
| History, East Germany, Non-Fiction |
Stories from behind the Berlin Wall
Usually I would keep anything to do with political opinions out of my blog, but his book is kind of very personal to me. I presume it is more a historical account rather than a political argumentation in any event. So anything regarding the former East Germany would catch my interest. I grew up in East Germany and was in Berlin on 09 November 1989, the night the fall came down. You know what I did in Berlin in that historic night? I was asleep. Yes, no joke! I quite simply worked in a job where I had to start every day at 4am, so I was in bed the night before by 8pm. But that's a different story all together which, I was told often, I should write down one day, but I'm not an author :)
The author Anna Funder is Australian and was working in Berlin in the early 1990's. This is obviously the time just after the wall had come down and the two sides were just 'getting together' - like a couple who had only briefly been together as teenagers an now pensioners, they have to learn to live together again. Not an easy task. Funder became interested in East Germans and particularly wanted to find out whether individuals resisted the regime or whether any attempts would have been treated with severe punishment right from the outset. Also, what was it really like to work for the Stasi, the East German Secret Service. It is said that as much as 1 in 10 in the population of East Germany was an informant for the Stasi - an astonishing number, if you imagine just the people the average person works with.
Funder placed adverts in local newspapers to get people to talk to her and wrote their stories down. And this is where this book stands out for me as it covers 'the unknown little person' rather than the big political big-wigs. There are no political arguments in her book, but just simple stories of how people lived and survived in the regime, how they got recruited for the Stasi, how it was to work for the Secret Service, spying on your family and co-workers.
On the negative side, I have to say that as a former East German, it always seems to be a bit sad that our life in that country always gets reduced to the Stasi and living with being spied on. I suppose that is in the nature of a book about the Stasi and in same way as a book from Weight Watchers would reduce your life to weight loss.
Overall, one of the few books about the Stasi which looks at common people, thus making it a great read for anyone interested in the topic and want to look a bit deeper than a history book.
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