Books

The International Vademecums series has thus far produced twelve country-specific issues: Republic of Moldova, Spain, Bulgaria, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Scandinavia, and Great Britain. They provide an overview of the archives, research institutes, libraries, political education institutions, associations, museums and memorials found in each country.

Some can be downloaded, others can be retrieved in print form via mail order.

The Berlin Wall Memorial Center on Bernauer Strasse is the main memorial site of divided Germany, located in the center of the German capital. Alongside the exhibit at the former border strip, a permanent exhibition entitled 1961 | 1989. The Berlin Wall was opened in November 2014, providing information about the political and historical context. The exhibition catalog amply illustrates the history of a divided Germany. With essays by Marianne Birthler, Katja Böhme, Klaus-Dietmar Henke, Elke Kimmel, Axel Klausmeier, Kay Kufeke, Susanne Muhle, Maria Nooke, Gerhard Sälter, Günter Schlusche, Cornelia Thiele and Hermann Wentker.

Axel Klausmeier (Hg.): The Berlin Wall. Berlin Wall Memorial Exhibition Catalogue, Berlin 2015.

This handbook addresses the question as to how many people actually died along the Berlin Wall between 1961 and 1989. Placing these deaths in contemporary historical context, background documentaries explore the circumstances under which these men and women died at the Wall. In addition to systematically researching the relevant archives and examining all the legal proceedings and Stasi documents, the authors conducted interviews with family members and others involved in the events.

Hans-Herrmann Hertle, Maria Nooke (Hg): The Victims at the Berlin Wall 1961-1989. A Biographical Handbook, March 2011.

At least 46 people were killed by GDR border guards while trying to cross the outer ring of the Berlin Wall separating the East German region of Brandenburg from West Berlin. This book documents the biographies of these victims, who are also commemorated with memorial steles at the inner German border.

Hans-Hermann Hertle, Maria Nooke: Die Todesopfer am Außenring der Berliner Mauer 1961-1989. The Victims at the Berlin-Brandenburg Border 1961-1989, bilingual edition, Berlin, Potsdam 2013.

This historical comic book is an escape helper's first-person account of the construction of a tunnel beneath the divided city of Berlin in 1964: from the preparations on the West Berlin side, the digging of the 145 meters-long tunnel into East Berlin, the tunnel opening and the successful escape on the first day, as well as the dramatic events on the second day which entailed severe consequences.

Thomas Henseler, Susanne Buddenberg: Tunnel 57. A True Escape Story, Berlin 2013.

Around 1965/66, soldiers from the East German border patrol took pictures of the inner-city wall over a length of about forty kilometres, producing more than one thousand views of West Berlin. Photographer Arwed Messmer (born 1964 in Schopfheim) digitally reconstructed these images to create about three hundred panoramas, and author Annett Gröschner (born 1964 in Magdeburg) supplied them with captions. Supplementing these captioned photos are portraits of soldiers, snapshots, and reports of escape attempts, which together recall everyday occurrences along the border.

Arwed Messmer, Annett Gröschner, Martin Hager: The Other View Early Berlin Wall Around, Berlin 2011.

Where did the Berlin Wall actually stand? Why was it built? How did people manage to escape across the Wall - and how many died in the attempt? Why did it ultimately come down? A stunning survey of the Berlin Wall - the central symbol of the Cold War.

Hans-Hermann Hertle: The Berlin Wall Story, Bonn 2016.

Anna Funder is an archaeologist whose excavation site is the German past. Unburdened by history, memory or any kind of East-West ideology, she speaks to victims and perpetrators, fellow travellers, collaborators, agents, resistance fighters and heroes, capturing their stories in the process.

Anna Funder: Stasiland, Frankfurt am Main 2011.

This book forges a bridge from the liberation of Germany in May 1945 to the fall of the Wall in November 1989. It tells the story of the people whose lives were changed, often even destroyed, by the Wall. The reader learns about politicians and heroes, rogues and hacks, major and minor concerns - and about the popular struggle for a free city of Berlin.

Magdalena Schupelius, Gunnar Schupelius: What was the Berlin Wall? The History of Divided Berlin, Berlin 2016.

Four East Germans corresponded for decades with an American teacher, openly sharing their frustrations, joys, and challenges of living in a communist country. Author David F. Strack kept those personal letters and has now distilled them into a riveting memoir about what life was like behind the Iron Curtain.

David F. Strack: Letters Over The Wall: Life in Communist East Germany, 2015.