The Berlin Wall: 13 August 1961 - 9 November 1989

by Frederick Taylor

The appearance of a hastily-constructed barbed wire entanglement through the heart of Berlin during the night of 12-13 August 1961 was both dramatic and unexpected. Within days, it had started to metamorphose into a structure that would come to symbolise the brutal insanity of the Cold War: the Berlin Wall. A city of almost four million was cut ruthlessly in two, unleashing a potentially catastrophic East-West crisis and plunging the entire world for the first time into the fear of imminent missile-borne apocalypse. This threat would vanish only when the very people the Wall had been built to imprison, breached it on the historic night of 9 November 1989.Frederick Taylor's eagerly awaited new book reveals the strange and chilling story of how the initial barrier system was conceived, then systematically extended, adapted and strengthened over almost thirty years. Patrolled by vicious dogs and by guards on shoot-to-kill orders, the Wall, with its more than 300 towers, became a wired and lethally booby-trapped monument to a world torn apart by fiercely antagonistic ideologies. The Wall had tragic consequences in personal and political terms, affecting the lives of Germans and non-Germans alike in a myriad of cruel, inhuman and occasionally absurd ways. The Berlin Wall is the definitive account of a divided city and its people.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Germany, Politics, European History, Audiobook, German Literature

658 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2006

About the author

Frederick Taylor is a British novelist and historian specialising in modern German history.

He was educated at Aylesbury Grammar School and read History and Modern Languages at Oxford University. He did postgraduate work at Sussex University on the rise of the extreme right in Germany in the early twentieth century. Before embarking on the series of historical monographs for which he is best known, he translated The Goebbels Diaries 1939–1941 into English and wrote novels set in Germany.

Reviews

[Jan-Maat]

At its best this book is entertaining. At its worst it is over extended, sloppy and a rag-bag of whatever the author felt was interesting with no consistent focus.

With 449 pages of text about half actually deals with the Berlin Wall and then only about a six or seven-year period around the wall's construction and then again the last few years down to 1989. The rest is filled up with a run through of Berlin/German history that is irrelevant, patchy and occasionally inaccurate and some general cold war tidbits. But it is easy reading.

It's a lazy book. For example Taylor finishes his section on the Khrushchev-Kennedy show down over the Wall by describing it as a defeat for Communism. OK there is nothing wrong in principle in having a simplistic conclusion, particularly in a book that was just a high level history of the cold war looking at the events from the perspective of the Politburo and the Presidency. But it is lazy in a book which just a few pages earlier was taking a more sophisticated 'wag the dog' approach showing how Walter Ulbricht, like Fidel Castro in Cuba, was, despite being in the junior position relative to the Soviet Union, was able to create and drive an issue that conformed to his agenda rather than Khruschev's. Maybe I'm simply too critical in expecting a book written by a single author to be internally consistent.

Or indeed other eastern Bloc countries were described as relatively more liberal than East Germany, which in the context of one party Stalinist states is an unhelpful choice of words. Would it have taken so long to mention that they practised Goulash Communism - a system geared to providing subsided foodstuffs and basic consumer goods to win the acquiescence of the population?

There is a consistent lack of context. Vienna as I remember from The Third Man was also divided among the four occupying powers for a time, but no comparison is made. The author does point out that the Soviets removed German factories and relocated them into Russia but doesn't point out that the British did exactly the same in their sector and that this was a recommendation of the Morgenthau plan. A point arising from this that would have been relevant to his discussion of East German economic weakness was that in the western zones this created something like a blank slate that manufactures could take advantage of, but this effect does not seem to have occurred in the east.

The narrative is again effected in his discussion of the fall of the Wall because of a lack of context, here the actions of the Czechoslovak and Hungarian governments come out of the blue despite being part of wider developments tied up with Gorbachev's perestroika impulse, but that in turn was driven by not too dissimilar economic problems to those that beset East Germany. Yes, as Taylor says, East Germany was borrowing heavily from the Capitalist world, but then so were all the other Eastern Block states (actually I'm not sure about Albania, but they were aligned with China anyway). In other words what is presented as a specifically East German problem was in fact a systemic crisis that brought down almost the whole of the Soviet Union and its sphere.

For me this is the heart of the problem. A book called the Berlin Wall 1961 to 1989 turns out not to be much about the Berlin Wall.

There's just a sketchy introduction to the city existing divided between two states with people living on one side and going to work or school and so on on the other side. The only problem mentioned is with the workers on the U and S-Bahn who were employed by the East and paid in East Marks. Eventually the West Berlin authority agreed to subside those workers who lived in West Berlin to make up the value of their wages. But this situation can hardly have been unique. Life in the East was cheaper and wages in the West were higher. It's hard to imagine that most people didn't take some advantage of this.

Generally a city has a unified system of sewerage, waste processing, rubbish removal, utility supply, transportation - what happened to all these once the city was divided by the Wall? There is a mention of U-Bahn tunnels beginning blocked and sewers having stronger grills attached after escape attempts but what about the operation of those systems? Were duplicate systems set up or was there cross border co-operation? Is there really no story here or just an absence of curiosity on the author's part? Is it wrong to expect that the person who is writing a book about a subject should be curious about it? The author mentions that westerners boycotted the S-Bahn during the 60s and 70s but never explains why, let alone why they then stopped (presumably) boycotting it in the 80s.

The author doesn't go into any detail about the processing camp for refugees from the East at Marienfelde either. What was it's capacity, how were people debriefed, screened, cared for and moved on, estimates of how many East German spies got through without being weeded out - these are the kinds of things I would have liked to have read about in a book about the Berlin Wall rather than digressions about the Maginot line. Taylor mentions Stasi agents like Guillaume getting through into the West or Stasi agents infiltrating the Western groups that were digging escape tunnels for Easterners - it would have been interesting to read about how this was done. Oh and you know what, since East Germany collapsed and all the Stasi files that weren't destroyed are available to be studied an author can research these things if they can be bothered. What about the enclosure of West Berlin - the text gives a bare couple of mentions to the majority of the length of the Wall which ran round the perimeter of the zones belonging to the Western powers in favour of spending time on the short bit that ran through the middle of the city.

Finally when I can spot mistakes in a text, for example the author claims here that the Kaiser abdicated and then a republic was proclaimed when in fact the Republic was proclaimed first and then the Kaiser had no choice but to abdicate, then I wonder how many more there are in the book as a whole.

This is a journalistic account of Berlin Wall. There isn't a consistent focus, there is a sense that relevant parts of the story were ignored, and while there is some interesting stuff such as Honecker's trip back to the Saarland, where he had been born, or the tunnels dug under the Wall the lack of context, whether deliberate or out of ignorance on the author's part, means that are inaccuracies among his statements. I couldn't recommend this in good conscience.

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Coup d’état

This book tells the story of the infamous wall designed to keep East Berliners in, from its construction in 1961, to its fall in 1989. It began on the night of 12/08/1961, suddenly checkpoints were closed, streets blocked off, barriers built and sewers sealed. Some escaped, but many didn’t and over the years up to 227 people died because of the wall. Poignantly the first and last were both due to falls. But after the first few frantic weeks everything was sealed and it looked as though the two areas would be eternally divided. Taylor writes with great authority and flare. With all of the major players being introduced and fairly written. Willy Brant, Helmut Schmidt, Eric Honecker, JFK, Khrushchev, Reagan, Thatcher, Merkel and Gorbachev. Each are described in their rolls with the wall and how they may have reinforced it (Honecker) or brought it down (Reagan). But we also hear the stories of those on the ground, the dilemma of the guards who had little choice but to shoot would-be escapists, much to the shame of the GDR regime. The tragedy of families who were separated or of those who were killed trying to escape. Even of those who escaped and then visited their families in the east years later, only to find out they had been rejected by them. The coverups, the Stasi and big brother state, it’s all here.

After the wall came down, the soon to be defunct German Democratic Republic, in a scramble to make some money, sold off the old wall in Hotel Parc Pallas in Monte Carlo. Thus the story ended. Berlin today is a melting point of culture, with clear lines chalked in the sand dictating east and west. The east, past the Alexanderplatz with the bland socialist architecture and wide parade grounds, poor housing areas, but avant garde clubs and cool coffee houses. The west, Charlottenburg, more middle class and wealthier, but without the quirks of the east. No trams and a slightly different coloured street lighting There is still envy and blame on the destitute nature of the former GDR against its wealthier western kinsmen. But Germany is healing and coming together as the heart of Europe. It must be said that this is not just a history of the wall, but is a wider story of Germany itself, how two world wars broke a young and confident nation, which is now still healing and on a future, potentially politically divided course once again.

The true learning from The Berlin Wall for me is that people still want to be part of their own nation states and socialist policies wreck economies. Dresden and Silesia, traditionally some of the wealthiest areas of Germany prior to the war (of note Frederick the Great went for Silesia for its wealth) became poor against the up and coming areas of the west. But after the wall came crumbling down the east did very well as the economies and currency combined. It is perhaps surprising the greens are the biggest up and coming party in Germany in recent years, with its more radical policies and tax pledges. It seems that Germany will change again. Overall this is a truly surprising and excellent book. Well written, well told and completely engaging throughout. I seem to enjoy elements of the Cold War more than I care to admit. I read the 2019 updated version, which reflects on Germany 30 years after the fall of the wall. This is great insight and well worth it. Taylor discusses Germany in recent years and where it maybe going.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a tome.

I had no idea when I picked this up that it would take me so long, or so much effort, to get through.

I have recently become fascinated by the Berlin Wall, mainly thanks to Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther novels. I found it unacceptable that I, a student of history, who had studied the world wars from more than one perspective, and Germany specifically, had never actually known what the Wall was, or how it came to be, or how it came to collapse. It was just one of those things I was conscious of, in a vague way, hearing cultural references to it and nebulously knowing that it had existed, without ever learning more about it.

This had to be rectified. It was embarrassing.

So when Toby brought home this large and impressive-looking book, I was excited. The trouble with me, and I'm venturing to guess, a lot of others who read this book, is that I read it wanting to know about one specific aspect of the Wall; namely its effect on the people of Berlin. I thought, there are people alive today who grew up 'behind' the wall, who are now living in a capitalist world totally unlike the one they knew as a youth. How have those people come to cope? What was life like for them, and for their families and friends on the other side? Is it a common question in Berlin, or greater Germany today, to ask 'Which side of the Wall were you born on?'

Bringing your own baggage to a historical work is never a good idea. Others wanted to hear about daring escape attempts, or the military power of East Germany. I wanted to read about the intimate social issues that came with dividing a city down the middle for forty years. In all cases, we would have found our needs better served elsewhere. This book is a sweeping, overarching history of post-war Berlin, covering politics and politicians in intimate detail. At times it was very like reading for a history class, which was alright for me because I enjoy the sense of achievement gained at having understood a difficult or intricate piece of politics in its historical context. It certainly covers the period of grand escapes, in quite a lot of detail. Often, Taylor will focus on one person whose actions became famous or symbolic at the time, and to me this is where the book shines. Zooming in from the bird's eye vantage point of history, we see the effect on a single person, or a family, or a group of friends, of this monumental act of division. This is why I read this book.

I learned a lot. I know a lot more about post-war politics and the shape of the world now than I did a couple of weeks ago. I am a more rounded person for it. But for me there was something missing from Taylor's extremely well-researched book, some kind of humanity that is hard to pin down, that will always be sacrificed on the altar of hindsight and good historical accounts. I missed the sense of pain and life and struggle that would probably have no place in a book of history, and I will continue to search for it in both fiction and non-fiction until I am satisfied.

[Dimitri · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Almost without exception, the border jumpers were young, mostly ' Children of the Wall'. Their disenchantment brought the statistics of "Political Dissidence" to life. And time, in 1989, worked in their favour."

For better and for worse, Taylor gives us the full context, from the end of WWII to the formal foundation of the DDR , working on both the local Berlin level & a default Cold War level. While it gives us a solid grasp on the origins of the Wall, it leaves less space for the story of the Wall as told by the people who lived behind it or (tried) to scale it. I'd say about one third of the book accounts for the Human Interest that people except, whether they have walked the grounds or not.

Once you've stood across the boundary edged in bronze across a Berlin sidewalk, with a preserved watchtower in view, you want the stories. Especially if you're past DDR 101....

[Jerome Otte · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent and well-paced if journalistic history of the Berlin Wall, covering all of the important events from the actual building of the wall and its collapse, with great coverage of all the relevant issues. Taylor successfully shows both the big-picture significance of all of these events and how they affected ordinary people on both sides of the wall.

Taylor’s writing is engaging and flows well, and he does a great job telling the wall’s compelling story. Taylor describes the conference at Potsdam where Germany was divided and Berlin occupied. At first, the US had no intention of maintaining any occupation forces in the city until the crisis of 1948. Afterwards, thousands of German escaped to the west through Berlin for several years. The Soviets closed the border but they left Berlin alone.The German communists pressured the Soviets to support the building of a wall, which they refused since it would harm their image and believed it to be impossible. After several years of pestering, Khrushchev gave his grudging approval, fully aware of the confrontation this might cause with the west.

Taylor shows all of the high-level maneuvering of the crisis of 1961 and afterwards, as well as all of the personal stories of triumph and tragedy that resulted from escape attempts by east Germans. Of course, he covers all of the famous ones, like Conrad Schumann (the soldier who escaped over the barrier but eventually hanged himself). He covers such topics as the psychology of the border guards and the economic problems of East Germany.

As Taylor reminds us, the collapse of the wall was more a result of accidents and local pressures, and the role of American foreign policy in general and Ronald Reagan in particular can easily be exaggerated. At the time of Reagan’s presidency a policy of coexistence had been adopted by both Germanys, giving the East German regime a new international respectability that made it easy for them to dismiss any challenge to their authority and legitimacy. The East German government had settled on a hard line ideologically, while allowing a certain degree of liberal reform elsewhere. Relaxed travel restrictions, nationalist protests in the Baltic, Hungary’s détente with Austria, electoral protests in East Germany, and Gorbachev’s public repudiation of the Brezhnev Doctrine all played an important role. Comically, at one point the East German government forbade the distribution of certain Soviet publications, and Gorbachev’s reform efforts were roundly criticized by East German newspapers.

In 1989, the East German regime was more or less paralyzed by the refugee problem and the discontent of the masses. At first the regime tried to ignore the refugee problem, then decided that its people would simply be allowed to leave--with their citizenship revoked. As it happened, few East Germans felt shunned or humiliated, and eagerly abandoned their East German citizenship. Many East Germans favored Gorbachev over Honecker (who refused to discuss any reforms with Gorbachev). Eventually, however, the East German politburo ousted Honecker from office, and when demonstrations began in East Germany, the regime’s security forces refused to fire (possibly on Honecker’s orders). Honecker would leave the government with a bankrupt East Germany in his wake. Taylor deftly describes the collapse of the wall, which was more or less an accidental result of the confusion of the East German Politburo’s spokesman. The East German regime’s spokesman was intending to announce stricter travel regulations, but he mistakenly announced an opening of the border to all citizens after failing to read his instructions carefully (he figured it was so ho-hum that he didn’t even read it before the press conference started). When a journalist asked him to clarify a statement regarding relaxed travel restrictions, he “clarified” by saying they would be dropped right away. The resulting frenzy at the border proved to be too much for the East German police to handle, and they declined from firing for fear of sparking a revolution.

Interesting and well-written, with the compelling stories of people both ordinary and high-level. The writing can get somewhat too breezy, conversational, and even cheesy at times, and Taylor often includes such historical no-nos like "we do not know precisely what is said, but we can imagine that..." when he should just stick to what is actually known. Also, the book is not entirely focused; his first chapter is an overview of European history, but it has a simplistic, flippant tone to it. And his writing includes such oddities as “brains trust,” and “unwisdom” and “escapers,” and “none the less,” instead of “nonetheless.” Similarly, Dean Rusk is described as a “toughie,” and one of Kennedy’s Georgetown dinners "included a number of young women... reputedly, shall we say, on friendly terms with the President." It gets pretty clunky: "Then Brandt arrived for a private meeting. Now real conversation could be had. Business could be got down to." But it gets better once Taylor actually gets to his point.

The writing gets pretty clumsy at times:
-”The two million abortions a year carried out in West Germany in the immediate postwar period, mostly in the Soviet zone, witnessed unimaginable suffering.” (Witnessed or caused?)
-”Werner was elderly and becoming somewhat vague.”
-”What Stalin had, he held--at least until it was prised from his stubby grasp, from the fingers that the long-since liquidated Russian poet Osip Mandelstam had described as ‘thick...fat like worms.’ “

Still, a fairly good history of an iconic landmark.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

One cannot tell the story of The Berlin Wall without telling the story of Berlin, of East Germany, of the Soviet Union, of the West and the Cold War. If one is to understand what the wall was and how it has shaped history the wall's contemporary background is needed for context and understanding. Mr. Taylor expertly conveys both the post/Cold War background and the story of the wall. Mr. Taylor does this by recounting the history of a post war and Cold War Europe split between NATO and the Warsaw Pact using the wall as the protagonist. I found the political and economic history of East Germany of particular interest - of East Germany's relationship with both the Soviet Union and Western Powers; and how the Germany Democratic Republic literally melted away as a country during October and November of 1989. This history is also a personal account of the individuals who attempted escape. Many made it to the West, but more than a few did not. The stories of those who failed to arrive in the West illustrate the extent to which a totalitarian state will go to retain power. We should understand this as a warning of governmental abuse of power and never forget what the end state of a people's relinquished liberties could be.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Frederick Taylor's Dresden and when I saw his name on this title, I couldn't resist. While I enjoyed reading this book to the point of finding it hard to put down, it is plagued with several typos and habitual rabbit trails. The Berlin Wall tackles a huge topic that could be approached in many ways. Frederick approached this fascinating topic with a great deal of scope, that arguably could have been reigned in a bit. The first 100 plus pages provide a broad overview of the formation of what became the City of Berlin and the German nation state building that occurred around Berlin - pre Bismarck to post WWII. If you are merely interested in The Berlin Wall itself, you can start on page 131. Although I enjoyed the lengthy historical priming of The Wall constructing pump, I can understand why others may not. Between 1945 and 1961, East Germany lost 15% of its population - individuals traveled from near and far to take advantage of the open border between East and West Berlin. The "escape hatch" had to be closed. In order to prevent continued population leakage, the East German communist leaders (with Soviet support) began sealing the border between East and West Berlin. This book does a good job telling the tale of when, how, and why The Berlin Wall was constructed in August 1961 and fell just over 28 years later in November 1989. This book also provides lots of additional pre and post contextual information. Though the scope of this volume is grand, it does connect a lot of important historical dots along the way. I found the characters (Ulbricht, Adenauer, Brandt, etc.) to be fascinating and am left wanting to begin reading more about the Cold War. Despite the negatives of this book, I'm very glad I read it and would read it again.

[Mark Mortensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, but lately I have pondered why and how construction of the Berlin Wall originated. In the summer of 1961, I was 8 years old and don’t recall the highlights from my scholastic “Weekly Reader”. The initial impact was not fully revealed to the American public, so certainly today’s younger generations know little of the subject.

Following WWII, the trio of WWII allied leaders Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin along with France, maintained a consensus that the Nazi regime should never rise again. Stalin had a voice in how to rebuild Berlin in his semi-quadrant, which carried forward.

From the late 40’S to 1961 many of East Germany’s brightest and hardworking citizens continually ventured to West Germany for opportunity and a better life. West Germans living in an open free capitalistic society thought barricading East Germans in East Berlin would be too large of a project for Communists. However, on Sunday August 13, 1961, the moment came when East German military under high alert implemented “Operation Rose” by cutting off all modes of transportation out of East Berlin installing barbed wire barricades. Those in East Berlin had lost their freedom and were confined. One East Berlin policeman stated to an elderly woman “You’re all sat in a mousetrap now”. Before long a portion of barbed wire was replaced by a Berlin wall and postal and telephone communication was silenced to those outside East Berlin. The East German military held orders to arrest or shoot and kill deserters.

Every chapter from beginning to end held my interest. I especially recommend this book to those in America, who have no comprehension of Capitalism and individual freedom versus Communist/Socialist rule without freedom. This crisis began under the administration of President Kennedy, a popular Democrat from a bygone era, who was firmly against Communism and Socialism. Unexpected consequences can happen to any society.

On a side note, I purchased my book from a used bookstore. It is a former library book, which makes me wonder why a prominent NYC library would shed a highly rated historic book with a 21st Century copyright of 2006. I’m aware that my own local city library is going through what they term a downsize “transition” and my suspicion is that numerous libraries may under the guise of political correctness, be shedding and culling certain books without labeling them as being banned. If true, this is a sad time for American freedom of thought.

[Matti Karjalainen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saksaan suuntautuneella lomamatkalla tuli tutustuttua myös Berliinin muurin historiaan, ja koska aihe oli erittäin kiinnostava eikä minulle entuudestaan kovin tuttu, niin päätin lainata ja lukaista siitä myös jonkun kirjan.

Englantilaisen historioitsijan Frederick Taylorin "Berliinin muuri: 13. elokuuta - 9. marraskuuta 1989" (WSOY, 2008) osoittautui oivalliseksi perusteokseksi aiheesta, joka oli kahtiajakautuneen maailman kouriintuntuva symboli keskellä eurooppalaista suurkaupunkia. Vaikka kirjan nimestä voisi toista päätellä, alkaa tarina jo kauan ennen vuotta 1961. Taylor taustoittaakin muurin rakentamista edeltäneen historiallis-poliittisen kehityksen huolellisesti, ja "Operaatio Ruusun" pariin päästäänkin vasta sivulla 170.

Vaikka DDR:n puolella puhuttiin "fasistisen aggression torjumisesta", oli muurin tarkoituksena oli estää koulutettujen ja parhaassa työiässä olevien itäsaksalaisten joukkopako länteen. Raja oli tiukasti vartioitu, eikä muurin ylittäminen ollut missään tapauksessa helppoa etenkään 1970-luvun jälkeen. Vuosien varrella monet yrittivät kuitenkin loikata, vaikka epäonnistumisesta joutui usein maksamaan hengellään. Lukema kuolonuhrien määrästä vaihtelee 125-227 hengen välillä, unohtamatta kahtakymmentäviittä itäsaksalaista rajajoukkojen sotilasta.

Tarinat onnistuneista ja epäonnistuneista pakoyrityksistä ovat ehkä kirjan mieleenpainuvinta antia, mutta melko hurjalta tuntui lukea myös lokakuussa 1961 tapahtuneesta välikohtauksesta, joka alkoi itäsaksalaisten yrityksenä estää läntisten miehitysviranomaistan pääsy Itä-Berliiniin ja huipentui tilanteeseen, jossa Neuvostoliiton ja USA:n panssarit seisoivat putket vastakkain Checkpoint Charlien raja-asemalla.

Suurista historiallisista hetkistä käsitellyksi tulee myös John F. Kennedyn kuuluisa Ich bin ein Berliner -puhe, jonka kuuluisimmat kohdat olivat improvisoinnin ja ehkä liiallisen innostumisen tulosta. Vaikka presidentin puhe miellytti tavallisia berliiniläisiä, ei samaa voitu sanoa hänen lähipiiristään: ainakin kansallisesta turvallisuudesta vastannut neuvonantaja McGeorge Bundy totesi presidentin menneen liian pitkälle.

Loppupuolella kirjan tahti hieman kiihtyy, kunnes Berliinin muurin murtumista käsitellään taas huolellisesti. Jos olisin jotain kaivannut, niin ehkä hieman enemmän ruohonjuuritason kokemuksia elämästä muurin varjossa, mutta oikein hyvä näinkin!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though I visited the Wall in 1987 and then lived within a few miles of it a few years later (on the East side), I realized I knew precious little about the history of the Wall. When I saw this book at the library, I snatched it up. Taylor's prose are engaging (I believe another reviewer called it "gossipy") and I find the overall history interesting. The most fascinating parts of the book are the personal accounts of Berliners affected personally by the construction of the Wall; they ring true with many of the stories I heard while I was in Berlin.

My one major complaint with this book is the sometimes shoddy editing: missing words, misspelled words, and so on. Along with this is Taylor's apparent affection for sentence fragments. I find them highly irritating and more than a little distracting from the flow of the narrative.

I understand Taylor has also written a book on Dresden, a city that is also near and dear to my heart. I'm planning on picking that up at the earliest opportunity.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Taylor takes a Noah and the Flood approach to his subject, which is to say he examines the beginning of Germany, the effects of Bismarck, the Emperors Wilhelm, and the aftermath of WWI, before glossing over the rise of Hitler and most of WWII and diving in for a fascinating examination of the foundation of East Germany and the relationship between the leaders of East Germany and the Soviet Union. Particularly vivid and meaningful for me is his recounting of the months leading up to the fall of the Wall, which I remember following in the news (in those pre-Internet days).

[Nooilforpacifists · Rating 5 out of 5]

The definitive account

[Truls Haugen Sletvold · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ai ai, denne boken her er litt av hvert, helt sikkert er det iallefall at den ikke handler om Berlinmuren i årene 1961-1989. Snarere handler den 80% om utelukkende året 1961 da muren ble reist og den internasjonale krisen som oppsto på bakgrunn av den. Dette vil for leseren av denne boken virke som veldig rart, siden forfatteren allerede i bokens tidlige sider påpeker det at Berlinmurens konstruksjon ble møtt med i det store og hele indignasjon fra NATO-landene som i senere tid de fikk enorm kritikk for.

Som en sakprosabok virker den svært forvirret i det at den presenterer de store aktørene i narrativet (Walter Ulbricht, Willy Brandt, Erich Honecker etc) med enorm detalj og intrige, tiltross for at de ikke får mye plass i narrativet senere og dermed blir deres (svært lange) introduksjon mer et fiffig grep fra forfatteren enn faktisk å ha mening.

Når forfatteren i tillegg begynner boken med en jævla klisje introduksjon om Berlins historie med fokus på blant annet Fredrik av Prøyssen(??) styrker dette min overbevisning om at episke sakprosabøker har nå faktisk begynt å attribuere seg selv med meningsløst innhold i form, skrivestil osv osv. Nå har altså dagen kommet at jeg med sorg og skuffelse ser også på sakprosaboken som et verk likt husmorporno og fantasy i stor grad byrdet av meningsløse troper. Faen…

[Zepp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun to read, but I'm not sure The Wall deserves it's own history. The author uses it as an excuse to tell only selective stories (the most exciting and sexy ones of course) of the Cold War, but these snippets are not really unified by the concept of the Wall itself. He does a good job of explaining why we Westerners were relieved by the Wall's erection and how we continued to love it as a symbol, but this isn't new revisionist work deserving of an entire volume; this story was not one that had to wait to be told, as he claims in the introduction. I would recommend Faust's Metropolis, Ghosts of Berlin, or a good solid Cold War history for real perspective on what The Wall was and is.

[Jesper Jorgensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. Taylor has a good 'flow' in his account and just the right dose - in my humble opinion - of personal remarks. If I had had the time I would have read it continuously

So, if you feel an irresistible urge to read about The Wall, this book is a very good choice. Go ahead and enjoy

[Laura Walin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a captivating book on the history of Berlin, Germany, Europe, and via the Cold War, of the World in the 20th century. I am happy that I happened to buy this book from the Berlin airport during my trip there in spring 2017.

Taylor starts from the very beginning, and quickly runs the reader through why Berlin was originally established where it was. Soon the wars and politics take over, and even though it seems a bit tedious at first, it is all essential to understand why the Wall was built in the end. After this relatively quick run through the pre-Wall times the narrative slows down and concentrates on the critical years of 1958-1964, and explains, sometimes day by day, what happened, by whom, and what followed. As a child of 70-80's it was eye-opening to read how close to the third WW we were during those times. Taylor manages to connect the events in Berlin very convincingly to the bigger picture of the world politics - and the personae of the relevant politicians. He also weaves in some very touching individual stories to keep the human interest factor high.

Towards the end of the book the pace accelerates again and it seems like years 1964-1985 are not very significant - all of a sudden the reader finds herself in the middle of events of autumn 1989 and the Wall is being teared down, together with the GDR. As quickly as the Wall was built up it was demolished, and in a surprisingly peaceful manner.

I read this interesting book of the recent past like a thriller, which proves that it was well written. In retrospect I would have liked to learn a bit more on the everyday life in the shadow of the Wall, not just on the most dramatic moments in the Wall's history. Also, at times Taylor got a bit lost in telling the story of the Wall vs. the story of Germany. Nevertheless, an enjoyable reading experience and definately history worth knowing!

[Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative history of Berlin and the wall. Includes some compelling individual stories that make it very readable despite the often complex and difficult to explain events of the time. The author’s perspective is less empathetic with the Soviets, which is understandable, but it sometimes feels like it ends up simplifying many of their actions as incompetent and malevolent (however satisfying that may be).

[Abigail]

I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Last October my husband and I made a trip to Germany where we met my penpal of 50 years for the first time. Hans and his wife both grew up in East Germany not far from Berlin. They were our tour guides for two days and took us to many places that had a great deal to do with The Wall and the history of Berlin. I read this book because I had a sense of a history I needed to know more about.

This is an interesting book with a great many facts. The first half of the 486 page book is rather slow and took me some time to get through but is important as it gives the reader a sense of the politics of the time. The second half of the book is more human interest as it tells us more of the suffering of the people who could no longer move freely in their own country. It also tells us what the people of East Berlin were thinking as they watched their own world become smaller and less livable. No jobs, or only menial jobs for those the government did not trust. Imprisonment for those who said or did anything the government didn't like. When people began to escape, even on the first day The Wall went up, they were arrested. Then because so many people were trying to escape the guards were told to "shoot to kill" which became an unspoken rule as the West did not like it and it made the East look bad. Cover-ups were easy because anyone who questioned the government was threatened or disappeared.

If you are interested in the history of Germany, especially after WWII this would be a good place to begin.

PS-In case you are wondering.............meeting Hans and Ingrid for the first time was like seeing family members you hadn't seen in years. There was no hesitation in our hugs and talking was easy. Fortunately, Hans spoke very good English!

[Glen Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I plan on writing (probably later this year) a book based in the timeframe of the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall. In that sense, reading this book was research for me.

Taylor provided a lot of substantive information that I will be able to use in my book. But it took me half the book to get to them actually building the wall. The first half was devoted to talking about the politics between East and West Germany. Much of it I found relatively boring, although one might argue that it was necessary to truly understand the whys behind the Wall.

When the author got to talking about the Wall, especially the part when people were trying to escape over, under and through it, the story became fascinating. This is where I wished he would have spent more time. I know the author can’t meet the needs of every individual reader, but to me, the experiences of the everyday person living in this experience is a lot more interesting than the politics behind it all.

All it all, I’m glad I read the book, although a lot of it was dry. I don’t know if I would recommend it for entertaining reading.

[Shane Parrish]

When the Berlin Wall went up on August 13, 1961, it divided all aspects of life, including parents from their children, and employees from their places of work. What started as a barbed wire fence grew into a complex, multi-layered structure that was designed to stop the flow of people, goods, and ideas. Taylor’s exceptional book tells the story of Berlin during the years of the Wall, exploring in fascinating detail why it went up, who tried to cross it, and why it so abruptly came down. There is a lot to learn from this book about geo-political separation, and how bottom-up change can develop and coalesce into actions of significant impact.

[Joost · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zeer gedetailleerd verslag van de geschiedenis van de Berlijnse Muur, met nog best wat historie van voor de muur erbij.
Soms moeilijk leesbaar, zo gedetailleerd. Maar wel echt interessant. Hoe alles kon gebeuren, hoe alles nog steeds doorwerkt.
Zoals Tom op untappd een stout biertje behandelt als een aparte categorie, zo moet dat bij dit soort non-fictie boeken ook maar. Tom vind een stout nooit zo lekker als een opa. Maar oneerlijk om het daarom niet objectief te beoordelen. Het boek leest op zijn beurt niet zo lekker als een roman over de Muur, maar zo is het niet bedoeld en dat neem je mee in de beoordeling hè.
Zo, toch nog gelukt om over bier te beginnen in een boek over Berlijn.

[monsieur_steini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aufschlussreich und sehr ausführlich legt Frederick Taylor dar, wie das DDR-Regime den "antifaschistischen Schutzwall" errichtete und was dies für die deutsche Teilung und die Blockbildung bedeutete. Die letzten Jahre der DDR und besonders die 80er kommen dabei etwas zu kurz. Sehr interessant sind auch die Haltungen weltpolitischer Akteur*innen wie Margaret Thatcher oder John F. Kennedy zur Teilung und Wiedervereinigung. Spannend geschrieben, faktenbasiert und quellengestützt ist dieses Buch eine bereichernde Grundlage für alle, die sich mit der Geschichte der DDR und der Mauer beschäftigen wollen.

[Pete daPixie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Evening Standard's review printed on the front cover states "Superb, fast paced and readable history." I am sure many readers will be taken aback by the broad swathe of history that Frederick Taylor encompasses here. The title, 'The Berlin Wall: 13 August 1961-9 November 1989' is somewhat misleading when delving into this book. Prior to reaching the 13th of August 1961, the first third of the text introduces Roman Berlin, a dash through the Middle Ages to Bismark's 19thC German unification, a pencil sketch of the twentieth centuries two world wars, before plunging into the Cold War, accompanied with short biographies of the nations post war political players of both East and West Germany. All this may well be readable history and a most informative backdrop to the subject matter, but I'm not sure how fast paced is the overall effect before we arrive at Walter Ulbricht's partition of the city.
However, once we reach this point in the narrative I found the political and sociological study to be quite fascinating and intelligently written, interspersed with the personal tragedies, as Berlin remained the focal point in the Cold War. Looking back, it highlights the insanity of a world on the eve of destruction and the calamity of a nation divided for so long. After seventy years Berlin still shows the scars, but the many construction cranes across the city skyline indicate that its recovery continues.

[Daniele Purrone · Rating 5 out of 5]

At school they taught me that, after World War II, Germany was divided in two, with the soviets on one side and the other allies on the other. And that Berlin suffered the same fate. The story is a lot more complicated than that, and this book details all the painful processes that brought to the birth of the two separate states and the suffering the people in Berlin had to go through. Strongly recommended!

[Flo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Viel gelernt

[Helle Paamand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting facts which i never knew. Good job on the research part from the author.

[Jerrodm · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was tough for me to rate--on the one hand, the subject is fascinating and the book is an incredibly detailed, often moving account of the impact the Berlin Wall had on Germans living on both sides. On the other hand, I found the writing difficult or awkward at times--I almost felt like the book was a somewhat stilted translation from a foreign-language original, although the author is British and I assume writes in English. Whatever the case, to me it was a book about a very interesting topic, but too often the writing got in my way.

To cite just a single example, this is from the text:

On 1 May 1945, Walter Ulbricht set foot on German soil for the first time in twelve years.

Before dawn the previous day, Ulbricht had woken in his room at the Hotel Lux in Moscow. Since 1917, this splendid Tsarist-era building on Tver'skaya Street had provided comfortable accommodation for favoured foreign comrades. Ulbricht belonged to that privileged few. Otherwise, he would not have been there.

It doesn't necessarily fall to the level of bad writing, but it just seems like the author is forcing a bit of rather mundane historical background into an awkwardly literary-sounding voice that doesn't suit it. And this occurs throughout the book. Also odd are the author's choices about what kinds of information to include and what to leave out--excruciating levels of detailed descriptions about bit players' backgrounds, or physical characteristics, but literally not one sentence about what life in Berlin had been like during the entirety of World War II.

And, in several places, the historian seems to give way to the journalist--the author substitutes broad-brush characterizations of events for any concrete details to provide actual shape. As with an example from the section on anti-German retribution in Nazi-conquered territory after World War II:

Countries that suffered the cruelties of German occupation thirsted for revenge...Women were raped, families robbed by thugs who roamed the roads and preyed upon refugee trains. Murder was commonplace.

Not to say that any of that didn't happen, but this is the setting pitch for a Hollywood screenplay, not serious history. Basically, Frederick Taylor's editor really should have taken a stronger hand with this book throughout.

All that being said though, I did learn a lot from it. Specifically, the book sheds a great deal of light on the East German government's power structures and how they managed to play the political games of East vs. West so well, finding little ways to corner the Allies and the West German government in different situations, playing the game of inches over control of Berlin, and then suddenly presenting the West with a fait accompli in the construction of the Wall. Of course, it didn't ultimately save East Germany as an independent state (or, as they had hoped, lead to the fall of West Germany), but it did extend its life by almost 40 years, which is a kind of victory.

The book also provides insight into the Western treatment of the Wall's construction, how it related to the larger strategic and political considerations of the Cold War, and how each side made policy under a tense and potentially lethal situation. I really enjoyed reading the parts about behind-the-scenes discussions and correspondence within the Kennedy White House, and between them and the other Western powers. There was not as much revealed on the Soviet side, almost certainly because such detailed records haven't been made public.

Also I enjoyed the "human interest" stories of the Wall, whether they were the stories of Wall jumpers in the early days of the system, or the group of West Germans who established an "Underground Railroad" of sorts to smuggle East Germans through the border, to those who tunneled underneath to create escape hatches. What the book did a very nice job of was showing how the partition of Berlin and the construction (and eventual destruction) of the Wall were the products of individuals, not States. I appreciated that approach to reconstructing the Wall's story, even if some of the time the narrative got sidetracked by over-writing or unnecessary asides.

So while I can't recommend the book wholeheartedly, I did get a good deal out of it.

[Erik · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a comprehensive overview of the events that shaped the building, maintenance, and ultimate dismantling of the notorious Berlin Wall, look no further than this. Taylor’s sweeping narrative of the post-WWII/Cold War political happenings that resulted in this great, divisive eye-sore being constructed through the center of the former capital of Germany and the vanquished NAZI government is a tightly written page-turner. Taylor begins his book by detailing the one party rule put into place by the East German Communists – with obvious help, if not direction, by their Communist Party allies/bosses back in Moscow – and details not just the opposition by the West, but also the whispered dissent and political differences a and jockeying between the East German government and their Warsaw Pact allies in Russia.

In hindsight, the failures of East Germany are plain to see. Yet reading about the decades-long lies its government perpetuated still astonish. “By early 1960, the GDR was suffering from serious shortages of raw materials and quality industrial products as well as food. It was heavily in debt both to the USSR and the West. Far from overtaking West Germany, the GDR was falling farther behind.” Which all helps to explain why the wall was finally built: To keep East Germans from fleeing, as opposed to the party line and lie that it was meant to keep the decadent West out. (After all, a truly free society would not be in the least bit threatened by erroneous beliefs and ideas. The reverse is actually true, as it would encourage vigorous debate which would challenge any and all false assumptions and premises, revealing them to be falsehoods.)

As an anti-Stalin communist, Khrushchev’s communist policies are surprisingly progressive. “The Soviet Union itself was less repressive, and its citizens a little more well provided with consumer goods, than had been the case under Stalin…[but] There was a growing rift with Mao’s China, which disapproved of Khrushchev’s denunciation of Stalin and was constantly pushing for a more aggressive policy against the West.” Ironically, post-Mao China was been remarkably more cooperative with the West, as it emerged by the end of the twentieth-century as the number one trading partner with the United States; which was highlighted yet again by President Hu’s recent visit and meeting with President Obama.

Despite nearly thirty years standing erect, “The Wall was in the long run a propaganda catastrophe for the East. Every day it existed, it screamed aloud one simple, damning statement: in Berlin we Communists stood in direct competition with capitalism, and we lost. Khrushchev and his successors had to live with this permanent mite accusation until a Soviet leader came along who just couldn’t or wouldn’t do it any more. But that miraculous moment lay almost half a lifetime in the future.”

Taylor’s book details the history of the reasons behind why it was built, maintained, and finally dismantled in amazing detail. He not only recounts the political side of these events, but also the individual stories of those who sought to thwart what the Wall stood for – in particular the amazing and often ingenious escape stories (tunnels, hidden storage car compartments, hot air balloons, etc.) that have been documented elsewhere, and even immortalized in film. (For lovers of The Great Escape, try The Tunnel, which dramatizes the story of former East German Olympic swimmer Harry Herschel, who helped many – including his family members – to crawl their way to freedom, and whose story is retold here in these pages of Taylor’s massive book.) For any Cold War history buff, or for anyone interested in learning more about the Berlin Wall and what it came to symbolize, look no further than this well-researched historical narrative.

[Glorious · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starting with a history of the Germanic and Prussian land and its development, it moves efficiently through to the first half of the 20th century, showing how the men who would control the DDR and its citizens for the next forty years would rise to power. The creation of the Wall is mentioned in detail as Berlin awoke to find itself divided by barbed-wire.

Ruling by fear, Honecker, Ulbricht and Mielke keep the population under intense scrutiny with the surveillance techniques of the Stasi, turning brother against sister, wife against husband and betraying socialist ideals of fraternity and unity. The shoot-to-kill policy which was in place to prevent escapers was denied to even have existed. Hastily arranged cremations and cover-ups were in place to remove any of the blame from the government.

With such moral bankruptcy, it was appropriate that fiscal insolvency was operating beneath the fabricated lies of the economic miracle that was touted by the ageing and blinkered men in charge. With Gorbachev growing tired of their stubborn ways and preaching openness from Moscow, the game was soon over for the regime as the rumbles of discontent and protest grew ever stronger from outside the Wall. And soon the Wall and everything that it stood for was being dismantled.

An excellent book and I can only wish that they went into greater detail about the aftermath of the fall and the reunification of Berlin and Germany and the revelations about the state of the DDR finances and the demise of the government.