Abstract
In 1983 Martin Schneider decided to escape from the GDR. When he arrived at the border, Martin took off his much-loved Western jeans and threw them over the fence, to save them from being ripped. Then, in a crisis of confidence, he decided not to flee after all. When his attempted escape was discovered Martin was sentenced to one year in prison for trying to leave the GDR.1 Even before the Wall fell, Martin was torn between a yearning for change and the pull of the familiar. Once the Iron Curtain was dismantled, East Germans had little control over the political, social and economic upheaval which permeated every aspect of their daily lives.
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Notes
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Vaizey, H. (2015). East German Perspectives on Continuity and Change across the Caesura of 1989. In: Rüger, J., Wachsmann, N. (eds) Rewriting German History. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137347794_11
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