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This is a remarkable book. If so desired, one could describe the book in a
few sentences. A young man manages to get out of communist East Germany, pursues
his career in the United States and Asia, and finally settles in Thailand for
his well deserved retirement. Overall, a pretty good life.
Well, why then
bother to buy the book and read it? The answer lies in the short summary on the
back cover of the book. It does make one curious. While visiting at the house
of his friend in Phuket, German journalist Ludger Wimberg discovers a stack of
wilted papers, titled: "My Escape". Why is it in English? What means "Escape"? And
what are these old pages doing in Thailand?
It’s a young book. The main
character is a 15 year old teenager, who, together with two friends, decides to
flee from communist East Germany to live in the free West. An undertaking that
involves breaking through a series of deadly border fortifications. What on
earth is it that drives three teenagers to risk their lives or imprisonment? The
book gives the answers to those questions.
It all began in the spring of
1963; the Berlin Wall had been built less than 2 years ago. The East German
Communists have hermetically sealed off the entire country to prevent the exodus
of its people. The world is in turmoil, the Cold War is raging, mankind had
just barely missed total obliteration during the Cuba Crisis.
In the West,
the young generation revolts against the establishment, express their views
through their Rock music and the ‘Hippie’-look. The East doesn’t have a
comparable movement, but the Western culture is very popular there too. Despite
harsh repercussions, they imitate Western looks, illegally watch West German TV
and listen to West German radio stations. But this is not without danger; any
deviations from the Party line are ruthlessly suppressed and punished.
In
this kind of Regime, former friends can easily part ways, some becoming border
guards, as others became fugitives, hunted by them.
Based on the true story
of young Lothar Mork the authors describe the staying and leaving of an entire
generation. Soon it becomes crystal clear that staying in East Germany amounts
to nothing less than a life sentence, and that trying to leave in most cases
results in imprisonment or even losing one’s life.
The book keeps the
reader in suspense. It all begins with torture in a water tank. Only a few
seconds separate Lothar from certain death. But the guards are too lazy to let
him die; dead bodies cause more work than living ones in the ‘Banja’, the most
feared prison of communist Bulgaria.
This nightmare is followed by a leap in
time, all the way to aboard a jet plane taking off from Logan International in
Boston, taking Lothar back to Frankfurt. During this first business trip to the
United States, Lothar had come to the conclusion that this was really where he
belonged.
The next chapter puts him into a hotel in Seattle, where the CEO of
his company during a short ceremony promotes him to Vice President of
Operations. Two days later, Lothar finds himself in Singapore, picks up the
phone in his hotel room and calls his mother in Germany. She is sitting in her
kitchen, having dinner. The same kitchen, where in April of 1963 it all began.
Lothar was 15 back then, and had just told his family ‘Good Bye’, pretending to
go and see a movie with his friend. Instead, he and his two class mates are
embarking on a dangerous escape, marching over 7 miles through a dark forest
towards the deadly, East German border. A speedy and fascinating start of the
book!
The book inspires and encourages. One doesn’t have to put up with
the status quo, if one is not comfortable with it! That’s the basic
message. After his first, failed attempt to escape from East Germany, Lothar
is expelled from high school and forced to work in construction. After
eventually finishing an apprenticeship as an industrial electrician, a friend
lures him to East Berlin, where he enrolls at the college of Foreign Trade. But
Lothar remains skeptical, alert and calculative.
It’s 1967, West Berlin is in
turmoil by the student revolts, while the East is tightening their Security
apparatus to prevent people from escaping or engaging in protests against the
Regime. Lothar is immune against their propaganda and their lies. He sees right
through their true intentions, the real purpose of the deadly border and their
need to an ever growing Security Apparatus, penetrating the lives of all
ordinary citizens.
His quest for freedom leads him right back on the path of
planning his second attempt to escape from this country, this time via communist
Bulgaria.
But once again, it wasn’t meant to be; although he and his student
friend make it into Yugoslavia at night, they are apprehended and extradited back
to Bulgaria. There, they spend a few months in prison under appalling
conditions. The longing for freedom keeps him alive; he develops strategies of
survival, calculating his chances of making it the next time. But there is no
‘next time’ for years to come. He is being shipped back to a special Stasi
Detention Facility in East Berlin, spends a year in solitary confinement and after sentencing he ends up in a State Penitentiary. But the unthinkable happens!
Destiny finally opens the door to the West for him.
It’s an honest
book. The book is subjective on purpose. It was designed as a ‘Docu-Fiction’,
featuring various levels to describe the events, thus enabling the book to pass
its message on. It employs text in form of a diary, facts based on research,
flashbacks and even fiction to connect events properly. The most interesting and
entertaining mode is the one of Lothar’s personal reflections, titled: "Looking
back in anger". After over 40 years, the authors have managed to bring Lothar’s
deepest feelings and emotions back to life. This gives the book an immense
amount of authenticity, emotional and aggressive alike. It also turns the book
into a witness of time. These chapters encourage to freely express one’s
opinion. No matter what an individual’s view of the past may be, it doesn’t help
to remain silent.
After reading this book, many people will be more
knowledgeable about East Germany, no matter what their political convictions
are.
Actually, it’s not really a book
True. This book
should be a movie. The five different levels of expression enable it to come as
close to the truth as possible, and yet remain to be personal experiences. The
book employs 241 sub chapters, in part very condensed and straight to the point,
creating a dramatic effect without hindering the easy reading along. Because
of that, this book is predestined to be of special value for young people, and
for a generation, who has stopped reading books outside the mandatory curriculum
at school. It makes a wonderful gift, forming a basis for the exchange of
experiences and opinions at home, in school or at the work place.
East meets
West and young meets old; such were the intentions behind this book. It’s a
necessity that the "Wall" in people’s minds comes down, just like the Berlin
Wall came down. The authors hope that this book makes a significant contribution
to that necessity.
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