A revisionist history that adds stability, contentment and women's rights to the familiar picture of authoritarianism By 1988, the average East German drank 142 litres of beer a year, double the intake of the average West German. The obvious explanation is they drank to escape the unbearable awfulness of being in the German Democratic Republic, with its omnipresent Stasi, clown-car Trabants, travel restrictions, gerontocratic rulers, grim Baltic holidays and laughable elections. Not so, argues E...
Beyond the Wall by Katja Hoyer review - overturning cliches of East Germany
The Guardian - 29 Mar 2023 10:00
A revisionist history that adds stability, contentment and women's rights to the familiar picture of authoritarianism By 1988, the average East German drank 142 litres of beer a year, double the intake of the average West German. The obvious explanation is they drank to escape the unbearable awfulness of being in the German Democratic Republic, with its omnipresent Stasi, clown-car Trabants, travel restrictions, gerontocratic rulers, grim Baltic holidays and laughable elections. Not so, argues E...
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