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Candles Behind the Wall: Heroes of the Peaceful Revolution That Shattered Communism
Gripping Stories of Heroic People fill the pages of this book. These ordinary but remarkable people are among the thousands whose courage and convictions sparked a moral, spiritual, and political revolution in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, leading to the recent collapse of Communism - one of the most momentous events in modern history.
When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Barbara von der Heydt launched a private initiative in West Germany to assist refugees from Eastern Europe. As she helped meet their needs, they gave her a glimpse into the lives they had led behind the Iron Curtain, hidden from the eyes of the world. Retracing their steps to Berlin, Leipzig, Warsaw, Budapest, and Moscow, von der Heydt discovered the spiritual roots of the peaceful revolution that shattered Communism.
Based on more than one hundred personal interviews with people who actively resisted Communism, Candles behind the Wall vividly depicts the unexpected end of an era. In the dust of the fallen Communist empire, unsung heroes of integrity now tell what really happened.
When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Barbara von der Heydt launched a private initiative in West Germany to assist refugees from Eastern Europe. As she helped meet their needs, they gave her a glimpse into the lives they had led behind the Iron Curtain, hidden from the eyes of the world. Retracing their steps to Berlin, Leipzig, Warsaw, Budapest, and Moscow, von der Heydt discovered the spiritual roots of the peaceful revolution that shattered Communism.
Based on more than one hundred personal interviews with people who actively resisted Communism, Candles behind the Wall vividly depicts the unexpected end of an era. In the dust of the fallen Communist empire, unsung heroes of integrity now tell what really happened.
- GenresHistory
266 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 2, 2012
This is an interesting account of how Christians have suffered under communism.
March 25, 2015
A great book...deals with the role of Christians and the Church in bringing down atheistic communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Emphasises the power of peaceful resistance.
October 28, 2014
Excellent read. I read it last year. Couldn't put it down. Very moving and compelling book of what Christians endured behind the Iron Curtain.
August 11, 2024
Subtitle: Heroes of the Peaceful Revolution that Shattered Communism.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the author interviewed over 100 people to get their stories of active non-violent resistance.
Alexander Ogoradnikov, Russian intellectual and dissident, was committed to take the risk of putting his faith into action. He was only one of many who were imprisoned, isolated, and tortured under Communism.
“You had to be willing to pay the price. We had to prove that Christianity is not an abstract idea, but that it was real life” (Alexander Ogoradnikov, incommunion.org).
Churches suffered. And so the story goes - in Russia, East Germany, the Ukraine, Lithuania,
“I have come to understand that suffering is fruitful only when we accept it humbly — only then does it open the eyes of the soul” (Jadvyga Bieleauskiene).
In East Germany “Prayers for Peace” met weekly “with unanticipated consequences. Some would say it was the spiritual spark that ignited East Germany’s peaceful revolution of 1989.”
Vaclav Havel, in a collection of essays, “The Power of the Powerless,” “articulated the need to live with integrity, to risk confrontation with the Communists, and to give personal witness to their convictions through the way they lived their lives. The moral power that emanated from this stance was striking.”
People begin to gather, to speak their despair, to pray and their numbers swelled. They lit candles and processed through the streets. “The message repeated again and again was ‘no violence.’”
“Non-violence is clearly the spirit of Jesus . . . .” (Pastor Christian Fuhrer).
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the author interviewed over 100 people to get their stories of active non-violent resistance.
Alexander Ogoradnikov, Russian intellectual and dissident, was committed to take the risk of putting his faith into action. He was only one of many who were imprisoned, isolated, and tortured under Communism.
“You had to be willing to pay the price. We had to prove that Christianity is not an abstract idea, but that it was real life” (Alexander Ogoradnikov, incommunion.org).
Churches suffered. And so the story goes - in Russia, East Germany, the Ukraine, Lithuania,
“I have come to understand that suffering is fruitful only when we accept it humbly — only then does it open the eyes of the soul” (Jadvyga Bieleauskiene).
In East Germany “Prayers for Peace” met weekly “with unanticipated consequences. Some would say it was the spiritual spark that ignited East Germany’s peaceful revolution of 1989.”
Vaclav Havel, in a collection of essays, “The Power of the Powerless,” “articulated the need to live with integrity, to risk confrontation with the Communists, and to give personal witness to their convictions through the way they lived their lives. The moral power that emanated from this stance was striking.”
People begin to gather, to speak their despair, to pray and their numbers swelled. They lit candles and processed through the streets. “The message repeated again and again was ‘no violence.’”
“Non-violence is clearly the spirit of Jesus . . . .” (Pastor Christian Fuhrer).
August 7, 2014
Good book. At points I wished it had gone more in depth into fewer stories.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews