by David Young
The People’s Police headquarters near Alexanderplatz – the East German equivalent of Scotland Yard
Kriminalpolizei
Criminal Police or CID
Kriminaltechniker
Forensic officer
Langlauf
Cross-country skiing
Major
The same rank as in English, but pronounced more like my-yor
Ministry for State Security (MfS)
The East German secret police, abbreviated to MfS from the German initials, and colloquially known as the Stasi – a contraction of the German name
Mutti
Mum, or Mummy
Neues Deutschland
East German Party newspaper
Nord-Ostsee-Kanal
Kiel Canal
Oberleutnant
First Lieutenant
Oberst
Colonel
Oma
Grandma, granny
Ostsee
Baltic Sea
People’s Police
The regular East German state police (Volkspolizei in German)
Republikflucht
Escape from East Germany
Republikflüchtling/e
Escaper/s from East Germany
Sandmännchen
Little Sandman. East German children’s TV programme
S-Bahn
Rapid transit railway system
Scheisse
Shit
Seebrücke
Pier
Stasi
Colloquial term for the Ministry for State Security (see above)
Volkspolizei
See People’s Police above
Vopo
Short form of Volkspolizei, usually referring to uniformed police officers, as opposed to detectives
Author’s Note
Firstly, a mention of the real-life weather conditions in the winter of 1978/79. It was indeed a ‘catastrophe winter’ for East Germany, and conditions on Rügen were particularly severe – with snowdrifts as high as houses as described in the book, and power cuts across the country.
However, I have used some authorial licence with the weather for the sake of the plot, and ‘borrowed’ some elements from the even more severe winter of 1962/63 (which I still remember from my British childhood – building igloos in our back garden in East Yorkshire which seemed to last for weeks on end without melting). So it was really in ’62/63 that the Ostsee or Baltic was frozen to such an extent that escapes were possible across the ice – and several did happen, with people camouflaging themselves with bed sheets, either to walk across the ice, or in one case by using bicycles. A newspaper article by Sven Felix Kellerhof in Die Welt in 2017 says there were at least forty successful escapes that winter – but he argues that reports of up to four hundred escapees were exaggerated. There is evidence that the authorities were sufficiently rattled to set up exclusion zones around coastal cities, however.
The Soviet icebreaker Arktika as far as I know operated solely in Arctic waters, so again I’ve stretched the truth there for the sake of the plot. It was, however, built in the Baltic shipyard in what was then Leningrad.
When I wrote the original draft of the novel, the Seebrücke in Sellin featured – as it did in Stasi Child. Then one of my East German contacts pointed out that in fact it was demolished earlier in 1978 (you can find photos of the demolition work online). But a short rump of platform remained by the steps which led down to the pier. (It’s since been completely rebuilt.)
One other slight stretch of the truth is the New Year’s Eve masked ball. There were occasionally masked events, apparently, but they would be more likely to happen in February around Carnival time.
What was very much true, though, was the English youth who spoke little or no German being encouraged to sing along to a Nazi marching song during an après-ski drink in the Kleinwalsertal in Austria in the 1970s. It actually happened a couple of years earlier than described – but that youth was me.
Acknowledgements
Once again, many thanks to my friends and former East German citizens, BBC journalist Oliver Berlau and renowned concert pianist Andreas Boyde, who both kindly agreed to read the draft of this novel and correct its many mistakes. Remaining errors are solely my fault.
I’m also very grateful for the work put in by the team at Zaffre – particularly my editors Margaret Stead and Jennie Rothwell.
Huge thanks as always go to my agent Adam Gauntlett and the rest of the team at Peters, Fraser and Dunlop literary agency.
Lastly, a big thank you to you, the readers – and especially those of you who’ve contacted me via Twitter or email with kind words and support, or have taken the trouble to write reviews of the series. It’s very much appreciated!
About the Author
East Yorkshire-born David Young began his East German-set crime series on a creative writing MA at London’s City University when Stasi Child – his debut – won the course prize. The novel went on to win the 2016 CWA Historical Dagger, and both it and the 2017 follow-up, Stasi Wolf, were longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. His novels have been sold in eleven territories round the world. Before becoming a full-time author, David was a senior journalist with the BBC’s international radio and TV newsrooms for more than 25 years. He divides his time – and his writing – between Twickenham in the UK and the Cyclades islands in Greece.
Also by David Young
Stasi Child
Stasi Wolf
Stasi State [previously A Darker State]
Stasi 77
East Berlin, 1975
When Oberleutnant Karin Müller is called to investigate a teenage girl’s body at the foot of the Wall, she imagines she’s seen it all before. But when she arrives she realises this is a death like no other. It seems the girl was trying to escape – but from the West.
Müller is a member of the People’s Police, but in East Germany her power only stretches so far. The Stasi want her to discover the identity of the girl, but assure her the case is otherwise closed.
The evidence doesn’t add up, and it soon becomes clear the crime scene has been staged. But this is not a regime that tolerates a curious mind, and Müller doesn’t realise that the trail she’s following will lead her dangerously close to home . . .
‘Chilling’
Daily Telegraph
AVAILABLE NOW
East Germany, 1975.
Karin Müller, side-lined from the murder squad in Berlin, jumps at the chance to be sent south to Halle-Neustadt, where a pair of infant twins have gone missing.
But Müller soon finds her problems have followed her. Halle-Neustadt is a new town – the pride of the communist state – and she and her team are forbidden by the Stasi from publicising the disappearances, lest they tarnish the town’s flawless image.
Meanwhile, in the eerily nameless streets and tower blocks, a child snatcher lurks, and the clock is ticking to rescue the twins alive . . .
‘An intricate, absorbing page-turner’
Daily Express
AVAILABLE NOW
For the Stasi, it’s not just the truth that gets buried . . .
The body of a teenage boy is found weighted down in a lake. Karin Müller, newly appointed Major of the People’s Police, is called to investigate. But her power will only stretch so far, when every move she makes is under the watchful eye of the Stasi.
Then, when the son of Müller’s team member goes missing, it quickly becomes clear that there is a terrifying conspiracy at the heart of this case, one that could fast lead Müller and her young family into real danger.
Can she navigate this complex political web and find the missing boy, before it’s too late?
‘A page turner’
Liz Loves Books
AVAILABLE NOW
Karin Müller of the German Democratic Republic’s People’s Police is called to a factory in the east of the country. A man has been murdered – bound and trapped as a fire burned nearby
, slowly suffocating him. But who is he? Why was he targeted? Could his murderer simply be someone with a grudge against the factory’s nationalisation, as Müller’s Stasi colleagues insist? Why too is her deputy Werner Tilsner behaving so strangely?
As more victims surface, it becomes clear that there is a cold-blooded killer out there taking their revenge. Soon Müller begins to realise that in order to solve these terrible crimes, she will need to delve into the region’s dark past. But are the Stasi really working with her on this case? Or against her?
For those who really run this Republic have secrets they would rather remain uncovered. And they will stop at nothing to keep them that way.
‘Reminded me of Robert Harris of his best’
Mason Cross
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First published in Great Britain in 2020 by Zaffre
This ebook edition published in 2020 by
ZAFFRE
80-81 Wimpole St, London, W1G 9RE
Copyright © David Young, 2020
Cover design by Dom Forbes
Cover image © Karina Vegas
The moral right of David Young to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organisations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-78576-548-3
Paperbook ISBN: 978-1-78576-546-9
This ebook was produced by IDSUK (Data Connection) Ltd
Zaffre is an imprint of Bonnier Books UK
www.bonnierbooks.co.uk