By
Greg Mitchell
Crown,
2016. 382 pgs. Nonfiction
The
Berlin Wall fell nearly 30 years ago. Many
have forgotten the price people paid to cross that barrier between East and West
Berlin. Before it was
built in 1961 Berliners traveled from east to west for daily jobs, school, to visit
families – and to flee to the West. Once the infamous barrier was built a
person’s life was forfeit for trying to cross it. Yet thousands and thousands defied the East
German government, crossing the barrier by balloon, jumping from windows across
the barrier into firemen’s nets in the west, using fake papers, and escaping
via underground tunnels joining East Berlin and West Berlin.
In 1961 no
one was sure whether western pressure against the Russians and East Germans because
of the wall might escalate to war. JFK was already embroiled in the Cuban
missile crisis and famously said, “A wall is better than a war.” This
compelling book gives accounts of several tunnel projects that were successful
routes for escaping East Germans. The author also fills in the details about
the political tensions of the time which could easily have flared into war. SH
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