Behind the Wall

Ines Geipel is a writer and Professor of Verse Arts at Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin.

• AcknowledgementsSlow motionTiny admiralOur forefathers and their dutyIn a vacuumA growing voidVersions of a fatherDolls are easy targetsCountry within a countryGaps in timeHistorical instinctExhalationsWorld of taboosSkins of consciousnessUnification NirvanaThe East as a testing groundBibliography

"Ines Geipel takes the occasion of her beloved brother's death to reflect on their times together growing up in the GDR, on the tensions within their family, and on the wider context of east Germany nearly three decades after the collapse of communist rule and unification with the west. Geipel's account of life in GDR is fascinating, and her reflections provide illuminating insights into the inner history and psychological workings of much of what has been going on in eastern Germany over many decades, particularly the impact of dictatorial rule during Nazism and communism, and the changing circumstances since 1989."—Mary Fulbrook, FBA, author of Reckonings: Legacies of Nazi Persecution and the Quest for Justice"The English translation of Behind the Wall comes at a moment when East German history is being discussed with an intensity not seen for some time. Its publication is timely. Ines Geipel is a major public voice in Germany, and her account of the GDR offers a compelling analysis of the complex lives she and her compatriots led within it."—Christopher Young, University of Cambridge"A simply written, poetic and dramatic portrait of the interlinked nature of past and present."—The Age"... compelling...."—The Australian"By combining the personal and the political, Geipel crafts a unique addition to the historiography of the GDR and its successor regions."—CEU Review of Books"[P]owerful and provocative. . . . an appeal for a constructive culture of debate about the past and its relationship to the present."—European History Quarterly