Leider muss ich sagen, dass ich den Kritikern recht geben muss: das ist ein sehr einseitig geratenes, die DDR verklärendes Buch. The GDR] was one of the strangest countries to have ever existed, a jewel box of contradictions...These contradictions are beautifully capturedin Beyond the Wall...Craftingan expansive and generoushistoryof East Germany, Hoyer brings long-standing academic scholarship to a broader audience, explaining how the GDR evolved over its 40-year existence, the triumphs and travails of everyday life under state socialism, and why so many East Germans continue to pine for the country they have lost."

BBC Radio 3 - Free Thinking, East Germany BBC Radio 3 - Free Thinking, East Germany

Funder reveals how O’Shaughnessy Blair self-effacingly supported Orwell intellectually, emotionally, medically and financially ... why didn’t Orwell do the same for his wife in her equally serious time of need?’ 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." 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. If you’re interested in the Cold War and the GDR then this is solid gold, complete with wonderful insights and a great overview of the country’s history. In 1990, a country disappeared. When the Iron Curtain fell, East Germany ceased to be. For over forty years, from the ruin of the Second World War to the cusp of a new millennium, the German Democratic Republic presented a radically different Germany than what had come before and what exists today. Socialist solidarity, secret police, central planning, barbed this was a Germany forged on the fault lines of ideology and geopolitics.

Last on

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. Superb, totally fascinating, and compelling, Hoyer’s first full history of East Germany’s rise and fall is a work of revelatory original research—and a gripping read with a brilliant cast of characters.Essential reading.” Not that Hoyer is an ostalgie-filled apologist. The GDR she describes is one divided between those “who resented the permanent state of alert and politicisation of life” and “others who craved meaning and belonging in contrast to what they perceived to be the empty consumerism of the West”. In 1990, a country disappeared. When the iron curtain fell, East Germany simply ceased to be. For over forty years, from the ruin of the Second World War to the cusp of a new millennium, the GDR presented a radically different German identity to anything that had come before, and anything that exists today. Socialist solidarity, secret police, central planning, barbed wire: this was a Germany forged on the fault lines of ideology and geopolitics. Beyond the Wall really goes beyond the Wall, offering a comprehensive and meticulously researched exploration of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), as well as shedding light on the multifaceted aspects of its history, society, and political landscape. With a nuanced analysis and a wealth of primary sources, Hoyer presents a valuable contribution to the literature on the GDR, providing us with a deeper understanding of this complex and tumultuous period. Hoyer's work stands out for its thoroughness and attention to detail. She skillfully navigates the chronology of the GDR, from its establishment in 1949 to its dissolution in 1990, and examines key political events, economic policies, and social dynamics. By drawing on an extensive range of primary sources, including archival documents, oral histories, and contemporary media, Hoyer paints a vivid and comprehensive picture of life in the GDR.

Beyond the Wall by Katja Hoyer | Baillie Gifford Prize

This “ideological sediment” of diehard loyalists determinedly recreated the Soviet system they revered. They faced a population traumatised by defeat (and the accompanying mass rapes by Soviet soldiers), along with an economy crippled by their occupiers’ relentless demands for reparations. Harsh economic conditions prompted the workers’ uprising of 1953. It was bloodily crushed by the Soviets, dispelling any pretence that the place was run on behalf of the toiling masses. 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. Forget everything you thought you knew about life in the GDR. This terrifically colourful, surprising and enjoyable history of the socialist state is full of surprises Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday TimesFor cost savings, you can change your plan at any time online in the “Settings & Account” section. If you’d like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial. Historian and journalist Hoyer ( Blood and Iron) captivates with this compassionate narrative of a lost nation." David Gelber: Chancellors & Chancers - Austria Behind the Mask: Politics of a Nation since 1945 by Paul Lendvai