Born in the GDR: Living in the Shadow of the Wall

This book is a good antidote to the polarized debate in Germany about how to judge the German Democratic Republic (the GDR, or East Germany). It has become de rigueur for German politicians to denounce the GDR as an Unrechtsstaat (translated variously as a “state without the rule of law,” a “dictatorship,” an “illegitimate state,” or a “criminal state”) dominated by the State Security Ministry's secret police (Stasi) and the Berlin Wall. By contrast, many former East Germans defend the GDR as a benevolent welfare state in which most people found a niche and lived their lives peacefully. These either-or, black-and-white arguments largely ignore the truth that East Germans experienced life in the GDR in all sorts of ways. Just in time for the 25th anniversaries of the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification, Hester Vaizey's engaging book presents us with East German life experiences that fit in...