Burned Bridge: How East and West Germans Made the Iron Curtain

380 Pages·2011·5.34 MB·English

by  Edith Sheffer

Burned Bridge
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Burned Bridge
How East and West Germans
Made the Iron Curtain

EDITH SHEFFER
Foreword by Peter Schneider
1
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Copyright © 2011 by Edith Sheff er
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sheff er, Edith.
Burned Bridge : how East and West Germans made the Iron
Curtain / Edith Sheff er; foreword by Peter Schneider.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-973704-8
1. Germany (East)—Relations—Germany (West).
2. Germany (West)—Relations—Germany (East).
3. Neustadt bei Coburg (Bavaria, Germany)—History—20th century.
4. Sonneberg (Th uringia, Germany)—History—20th century.
5. Boundaries—Social aspects—Germany—History—20th century.
6. Germany—History—1945–1990. I. Title.
DD258.85.G35S44 2011
943.087—dc22 2011005112
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
To Scott
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Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out
—Robert Frost, “Mending Wall”
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments x i
Foreword by Peter Schneider x v
Introduction
3
PART ONE DEMARCATION LINE, 19451952
1. Foundations: Burned Bridge
17
2. Insecurity: Border Mayhem
34
3. Inequality: Economic Divides
50
4. Kickoff : Political Skirmishing
71
PART TWO “ LIVING WALL,” 19521961
5. Shock: Border Closure and Deportation
97
6. Shift : Everyday Boundaries
118
7. Surveillance: Individual Controls
142
PART THREE I RON CURTAIN, 19611989
8. Home: Life in the Prohibited Zone
167