The Other Side of the Berlin Wall (Hardback)
East Germany, Life Under Tyranny
Imprint: Pen & Sword History
Pages: 264
Illustrations: 40 black and white illustrations
ISBN: 9781399015097
Published: 15th July 2025
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At midnight of 12 August 1961 East Germany became partitioned from the West by an ideological barrier that would remain a chancroid rash upon the political landscape of post WW2 Europe for some forty-five years. Initially little more than rolls of barbed wire, this barrier soon became the concrete monolith known the world over as the Berlin Wall.
Prior to the construction of the wall an exodus of some 3.5 million East Germans circumvented the Eastern Bloc emigration restrictions in order to escape the socialist nightmare that many knew was now imminent.
For those on the other side of the wall their lives would be characterized by fear, oppression, the denial of basic human rights and an abject paranoia coupled with endless ques of people outside shops with no goods to sell.
This book tells the story of those who lived under the German Democratic Republic (GDR) where Marxism-Leninism and Russian language were compulsory for all schoolchildren.
Although hatred and resistance towards the regime soon flourished it would take many decades for communism to choke upon its own poison, but would a re-unified Germany and the rest of Europe be any safer in the wake of its demise?
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About Tim Heath
Born into a military family, Tim Heath’s interest in military history began at an early age. Firstly, specialising in military ammunition, weapons and militaria collecting in general with particular emphasis on the air war of the Second World War, he embarked upon an extensive programme of groundbreaking research which inadvertently led him to focus his efforts on the social history elements of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich Germany with particular emphasis upon the roles of females prior to and during the Third Reich Nazi era. During the course of his research work spanning some thirty-six years, he has worked closely with both the German War Graves Commission, Kassel, Germany, and veterans and civilians from all sides of the global conflict that was the Second World War. His first book, Hitler’s Girls - Doves Amongst Eagles, was published by Pen and Sword Books Ltd in 2017. Following on from the success of Hitler’s Girls, Tim has written a further thirteen books. He has written extensively for some of the UK’s leading military history publications and has contributed articles to various online media resources around the world. He has also appeared in the Sky History documentary series Hitler’s Handmaidens and The Nazis -Threads of Evil for Refuge 31. He lives in the former market town of Evesham, Worcestershire, UK, with his partner Paula.
About Annamarie Vickers
Annamarie Vickers-Skidmore’s passion for literature and history led her to work in both commercial and battlefield tourism. AVCE Travel & Tourism, the company she currently works for, are one of the leading providers of Battlefield Tourism. Alongside her interest in military history, Annamarie has self-published 9 books of poetic and spoken word material. This is her first book for Pen and Sword.