1989 The Berlin Wall: My Part in its Downfall

by Peter Millar

It was an event that changed history, bringing the Cold War to a sudden, unexpected end. Peter Millar was in the middle of it, literally: caught in Checkpoint Charlie between bemused East German border guards and drunk western revellers prematurely celebrating the end of an era. For over a decade Millar had been living not just in East Berlin but also Warsaw and Moscow. In this engaging, garrulous, bibulous memoir we follow him on a journey into the heart of Cold War Europe. From the hitchhiking trip that helped him discover a secret path into a career in journalism, through the carousing bars of Fleet Street in the seventies, to the East Berlin corner pub with its eclectic cast of customers who taught him the truth about living on the wrong side of the Wall. We relive the night it all disintegrated, gain insight into the domino effect that swept through Eastern Europe in its aftermath and find out how the author felt as he opened the Stasi files and discovered which of his friends had - or had not - been spying on him.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Germany, Politics, Travel, Historical, Biography

220 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2009

About the author

Peter Millar is an award-winning British journalist, author and translator, and has been a correspondent for Reuters, Sunday Times and Sunday Telegraph. He was named Foreign Correspondent of the Year for his reporting on the dying stages of the Cold War, his account of which – 1989: The Berlin Wall, My Part in its Downfall – was named ‘best read’ by The Economist. An inveterate wanderer since his youth, Peter Millar grew up in Northern Ireland and studied at Magdalen College, Oxford. Before and during his university years, he hitchhiked and travelled by train throughout most of Europe, including behind the Iron Curtain to Moscow and Leningrad, as well as hitchhiking barefoot from Dubrovnik to Belfast after being robbed in the former Yugoslavia. He has had his eyelashes frozen in the coldest inhabited place on Earth - Oymyakon, eastern Siberia, where temperatures reach minus 71ºC, was fried at 48ºC in Turkmenistan, dipped his toes in the Mississippi, the Mekong and the Nile, the Dniepr and the Danube, the Rhine and the Rhone, the Seine and the Spree. He crisscrossed the USA by rail for his book All Gone To Look for America and rattled down the spine of Cuba for Slow Train to Guantanamo. He has lived and worked in Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Warsaw and Moscow, attended the funerals of two Soviet leaders, been blessed six times by Pope John Paul II (which would have his staunch Protestant ancestors spinning in their graves), and he has survived multiple visits to the Munich Oktoberfest and the enduring agony of supporting Charlton Athletic. Peter speaks French, German, Russian and Spanish, and is married with two grown-up sons. He splits his time between Oxfordshire and London, and anywhere else that will have him.

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rather light-hearted account of a journalist's life behind the Iron Curtain before the Wall came down. You feel that there could be a hefty, scholarly history about the Cold War written by this author, but unfortunately - or fortunately - he went down the pub instead of writing it and wrote this instead. Journalists wear their scholastic abilities lightly (until the day they become a news anchor when they seem desperate to inform everyone of what a serious investigative journalist they are) and Millar doesn't allow them much of a say in this book. In my opinion, that's what made it a good read. If I want serious history I'll read Simon Sebag Montefiore - or at least I'm sure I will, one day. This book, as the title suggests, is much more of a Brysonesque account of history as it happened to someone who was there to witness it in all its messy happenstance.

[David Canford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having visited Berlin recently and experienced the intriguing place it is I wanted to read about what it was like before the wall came down - when two very different systems lived side by side but didn't interact. This book provides a fascinating account of what it was like and the Alice in Wonderland logic of the communist regime. An excellent account of a pivotal moment in our recent history; the miracle of freedom triumphing over oppression.

[Rachel Pollock · Rating 4 out of 5]

The narrative voice is steeped in that slappable puffery to which the hyperprivileged Oxbridge grad is so often prone, with a heaping helping of the 70s self-styled pseudo-badass to boot. However, the chapters including his eyewitness account of the fall of the DDR were worth the copious eyeroll of all that proceeded them. Put on your hipwaders and persevere.

[Don · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book to read if you are interested in life in central Europe (and Russia) in general, and Germany in particular, during the period just before, during and after the collapse of the 'Iron Curtain'. Also, if you are interested in what it was like to be a news journalist during that period.

Well-written, as one would expect from a professional journalist, but its strength is in the first-hand accounts of historical events that the author was part of. After the Berlin Wall has fallen, the book rather tails off, although finishing with a nod to George Orwell and the observation that what happened in East Germany, in terms of government control of society, can happen - and perhaps is happening (albeit in a less obvious form) - in the UK in the early 21st century.

[briz · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit of a fluff piece about the waning days of the Cold War in the 1980s. Has a bit of Ostalgie (nostalgia for East Germany), and lots of gonzo gonzo journalism, where the author is very much the protagonist. This is normally fine - except I didn't particularly like Peter Millar's good ol' boy Oxbridge nostalgia about a time when journalists were hard-drinking hacks, cynical and educated and macho blech. There is a moment when one journalist is described as seeking assistants in young "Oxbridge graduettes". Graduettes? Really?

The gonzo put a bit of a dent in my enjoyment of the book, but late Cold War stuff is super interesting. Esp. Berlin Wall stuff, my yen of the week/month. To his credit, Millar's description of the night the wall fell is fizzy with energy and awe and lots of fun.

Here's your legendary David Hasselhoff performance chaser.

[Rob Hardie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A highly entertaining book, giving a whirlwind tour of this period of history from the perspective of one of the few people allowed relatively free movement around the area. From other reviews I was worried the author might have been more concerned with this antics at the bar than getting a proper impression of the region, but Millar is clearly a dedicated journalist with a great desire to see things through the eyes of the locals, and I didn't detect an excess of bravado or entitlement, especially not given the behaviour and attitudes of some at the time.

Top marks for me as I was kept entertained the whole way through, and learned many new things about life in the DDR and the day-to-day life of an 80s journalist

[Ronja Bossen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A personal account on some of the events that happened in the last years before the fall of the wall and after. In my view, it lacks the perspective of the local people on the collapse of their society and gives a rather simplistic and western colored view on what happened. Peter Millar being a journalist, I would have expected a bit more depth in his storytelling.
But overall, still a fast and nice read.

[Michael Macdonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful recent history

Well written story of the rapid decline of Stalinist Communism, Millar records the strains of East Germany's dictatorship dictatorship with its impact on ordinary life. Questioning but warning that British government has its failings and lust for power.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this. History is always most interesting when reflected through the eyes of people living through it, and this gave some good insight into the lives of East Berliners, and was an easy and entertaining read.

[Mrs]

Interesting.
Millar is a journalist who spent several years in the eighties living in East Berlin, then Minsk and it is an account of the years leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall, and subsequently, the Iron Curtain.

[Clare Harvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great insights and v. readable style.

[Heather G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating

A truly interesting look at the end of an era from the view of a journalist. Compelling doesn't begin to describe it.

[Darla Ebert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absorbing and exciting... however bearing in mind the suffering of the East Germans the eventual humor involved in being spied upon managed to mitigate some of the drama.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Light hearted, could be a bit more in depth rather than a puff piece on how amazing the author is

[Thomas Kus · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who grew was a teenager in 1980's East Germany and a student at the time when the wall came done this is not just a book full of memories, it is a book full of authenticity.

Peter Millar has lived and worked in East Germany before the wall came down and it shows. Not only does he "get" the Zeitgeist of the 80's he also has that rare ability to get beyond the stereotypical descriptions of a permanently oppressed people that is either monitored by or working for the Stasi. The historic background tot he events leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall is particularly enlightening, from the church based "swords to ploughshares" movement to the monumental changes in the Soviet Union, Poland and Hungary in particular that led to mass emigration on one hand but also to a movement to demand change and resolve to take risks and stay put. The turning point as Monday 9th October when the demonstration in Leipzig (and other cities) passed peacefully and the much feared repeat of a Tiananmen Square massacre did not materialise.

As someone who has also experienced this part of history first hand I cannot recommend this book highly enough - it really is a remarkable account of a remarkable moment in time.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really excellent book and a very enjoyable read. Peter Millar is the journalist so, as expected, the book is very readable. It is a fascinating insight into the life of a foreign affairs journalist.

My favourite parts of the book were the first half and the latter part which were more centred around his life in Berlin. In these parts we learn about his friends and acquaintances and his real humanity and compassion for people shines through. There is a middle section when he spends time in Russia and this seems to lack the human element with very little about people he's met.

I think the latter chapter of the book is extremely powerful, especially for those of us in the UK going through the Brexit process. His insight and experience of working across Europe has made Peter Millar a strong European and, to me, his arguments for a common European heritage are logical and underpinned by hard experience of the alternatives.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Berlin Wall was built in 1961, the year my mother was born, and both my parents grew up in the GDR. While I'm too young to actually remember much about it (a few months shy of my 3rd birthday in November 1989), I too was born there, and whenever I read a book like this it reminds me of how very different my life today would be if the wall hadn't come down when it did. Working as a foreign correspondent in Berlin and Moscow throughout the 80s, Peter Millar witnessed both life in the GDR and USSR as well as the collapse of both up close. An intriguing and insightful account.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I heard him read from this book recently, and he is an entertaining speaker and writer. This covered his years as a reporter for Reuters and later the Sunday Telegraph and Times. He was based in East Berlin, Warsaw and Moscow during the 80's and indeed made it back to Berlin on the evening the wall came down. An intriguing and very readable account of a tumultuous year and journalists treading a line between fact and fiction.

[Allan Shepherd · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic book from a unique perspective about the human face of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The author manages to explain the end of the Cold War, as nations fall around him. Hidden within the pages are real human stories about families separated based on Post Code boundaries. I really recommend this book to others, the Author has a really enjoyable writing style based on his career as a journalist for Reuters, The Sunday Telegraph and The Sunday Times.

[Christine Parkinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did enjoy this book. It gave a good insight into what life was like in Germany living with the Berlin wall and also when the wall came down. I did find that it had quite a lot of political references which are necessary due to the nature of the story but which I found a bit much for my personal taste. This is not a slight on the book and the 3 stars is not as much a reflection on the book but my personal enjoyment.

[Philip Whiteland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Walls Have Eyes

An excellent story, as would be expected from a journalist with Mr. Millar's experience. The story of how the Berlin Wall came to be, what it was like for those living in its shadow and how it came to fall, is enough in itself, but we also get snapshots of the fall of the other Eastern Bloc states as well as an insight into the world of journalism and newspapers in the 1980s. A terrific read, strongly recommended.

[Vivek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read it just before I visited Berlin for the first time in my life. It provided a wonderful and personal account of life behind the Iron curtain while at the same time highlighting the import political events during the cold war period that had an effect on the Berlin walls collapse. Would recommend it to anyone planning to visit Berlin.

[Graham glover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent.

My interest in the subject was reawakened by the recent commemorations . I picked this book because of other reviews and it seemed readable. It is. If you are interested in the subject i recommend it, if you are not interested in the subject, I recommend it. It is a very good book and very readable.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't believe it's been over a quarter century since the Berlin Wall came down. Millar has written an excellent memoir about his life as a journalist in Eastern Europe in the decade leading up to 1989. Essential reading for a glimpse of everyday life east of the wall

[Catherine Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Berlin. This is a fascinating read.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strangely captivating.

[Phil Truslove · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent read!

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful and at times amusing insight into life is East Berlin and the fall of the wall from journalist Peter Miller.

[Mrs Reddy Mallender-Katzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Autobiographical book is Interesting from the beginning right through to the last word ! i found it hard to put down and a great book to be able to pass onto others

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating account of Millar’s experience of the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall, and much else besides. Totally absorbing and beautifully described and written.