by Nina Willner
DEDICATION
for
OMA
EPIGRAPH
Both now and for always, I intend to hold
fast to my belief in the hidden strength of the
human spirit.
—Andrei Sakharov, Russian nuclear physicist and dissident
CONTENTS
Dedication
Epigraph
Family and Historical Chronology
Preface
PART ONE 1. The Handover: End of War (1945)
2. An Iron Curtain Descends: Cold War Begins (1945–1946)
3. “If You Want to Get Out, Do It Soon”: Close Calls and Escapes (1946–1948)
4. Flight: A Small Suitcase and the Final Escape (August 11, 1948)
PART TWO 5. Two Castles: Out of the Whirlwind (1948–1949)
6. A Sister Born in the East: The Stasi Takes Control (1949–1952)
7. “We Want to Be Free”: A Workers’ Uprising (1953)
8. The Visit: Sisters Meet (1954)
9. Life Normalizes in a Police State: A Courtship (1955–1957)
10. The Fur Coat: Last Meeting (1958–1959)
PHOTO INSERT
PART THREE 11. “A Wall Will Keep the Enemy Out”: A Wall to Keep the People In (1960–1961)
12. The Family Wall: Oma’s Faith and Opa’s Defiance (1962–1965)
13. Only Party Members Succeed: “We Have Each Other” (1966–1969)
14. A Message with No Words: Oma’s Love from Afar (1970–1974)
15. Dissidents and Troublemakers: Opa Committed (1975–1977)
16. A Light Shines: “Our Souls Are Free” (1977)
17. A Surprise from America: Innocence (1978–1980)
18. Paradise Bungalow: Refuge and Solace (1980–1982)
PART FOUR 19. Assignment: Berlin—Intelligence Operations (1982–1984)
20. Face-to-Face with Honecker: Mission in Ludwigslust (1984–1985)
21. Beyond the Checkpoint: Passage (1985)
22. Imagine: The Road Ahead (1986)
23. “Tear Down This Wall”: Winds of Change (1987–1988)
24. “Gorby, Save Us!”: A Nation Crumbles (1989)
25. The World Is Stunned: “Schabowski Said We Can!”; or, the Wall Falls (November 9, 1989)
26. Dawn: Leaving the East (Autumn 1989)
27. Reunion and Rebirth: Together Again (1990–2013)
Epilogue
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher
FAMILY AND HISTORICAL CHRONOLOGY
YEAR
FAMILY
HISTORY
1945
Americans arrive in Schwaneberg
Soviets take command of Schwaneberg
Red Army captures Berlin
World War II ends. Germany divided into East and West. Berlin divided into East and West.
Cold War begins
1946
Opa installed to teach Soviet doctrine
Roland becomes teacher
Soviets occupy East, impose Soviet law
Establish border demarcation and interzone pass control
SED, Communist Party formed
VoPo police and German border police established
1947
Kallehn helps Hanna to flee
Hanna escapes and is forcibly returned
Marshall Plan helps rebuild West Zone and West Berlin
Soviets strip East Zone
Communist youth movement established
1948
Hanna’s final escape
Currency reform
Berlin Blockade/Berlin Airlift begins
1949
Hanna to Heidelberg
Heidi born in East Zone
Youth movement begins in Schwaneberg
NATO formed
Berlin Blockade ends
West Germany founded
East Germany founded
Prison system building
Soviets test first nuclear weapon. Nuclear arms race begins.
Group of Soviet Forces Germany (GSFG) established
1950
Opa takes stand for farmers against state
Ulbricht becomes leader of East Germany
East German state confiscates private land
Restricted areas established
Stasi established. Begins to use fear, paranoia, intimidation, and terror tactics to control.
1951–56
East Germany’s Five Year Plan stresses high production quotas for heavy industry. Mass exodus of worker and intellectual labor force.
1952
U.S. Army hires Hanna
East-West German border sealed. Only Berlin remains open.
1953
Stalin dies. New Course.
Construction of Socialism Plan
Workers’ Uprising. Riots suppressed by Red Army.
1954
Oma and five-year-old Heidi visit the West
Unauthorized departure from East Germany prosecuted by three-year prison term
1955
Family adjusting to police state control
Authorities harass Opa
Soviet Union declares East Germany sovereign Warsaw Pact formed
Regime sees first results of silencing dissent and controlling population
Normalization begins
Cold War escalates
1956
Kai takes Jugendweihe oath to serve communism
NVA (East German Army) formed. With GSFG, ramps up to become battle-ready for conflict with NATO.
Hungarian Revolution suppressed by Red Army
1956–63
Seven Year Plan marked by collectivization and nationalization of agriculture and industry
1957
Assisting in unauthorized departure from East Germany prosecuted by prison term
Space race begins
1958
Hanna marries Eddie
Oma and Opa visit Heidelberg
1960
Authorities continue to harass Opa
Kallehn dies
Cold War escalates
Socialist Spring. Final handover of land for collectives.
Continued hemorrhaging of East German labor force, mostly into open West Berlin
1961
Nina born in United States
Berlin Wall erected
Tensions increase between United States and Soviet Union
1962
Kai serves as border guard at the Berlin Wall
Oma builds Family Wall
Peter Fechter is shot at the Wall
1963
U.S. president Kennedy “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech
1963–70
New Economic System
1964
Heidi takes Jugendweihe
Berlin Wall fortified
1965
Opa denounced, forced to retire, expelled from Communist Party. Family relocated to Klein Apenburg.
1966
Nina, age five, learns East family is trapped in a country they cannot leave
Infrastructure improvements: roads and apartment blocks
1968
Heidi marries Reinhard
Soviets crush revolt in Czechoslovakia
East German regime launches sports program
1969
Détente begins
1970
Cordula born
East Germany enters Olympics
1971
Honecker becomes leader of East Germany
1972
West and East Germany establish diplomatic relations
Hanna calls Oma in East Germany
Consumer socialism
East German sports ramps up
1975
Family receives more letters and packages from Hanna
Wall upgrade; border reinforced
Escape attempts, now almost suicidal, continue
1976
SS-20 missiles deployed in the Soviet Union
Peak of growth in East Germany
1977
Opa sent to asylum, “reeducated”
Kai dies
1978
Oma dies
Albert visits East German family
1979
Soviet Union invades Afghanistan. Détente ends.
1980
Cordula recruited into East German sports
Heidi and Reinhard build Paradise Bungalow
Cold War tensions increase. Solidarity forms in Poland.
Economic decline; conditions deteriorate. More East Germans tuning in to West airwaves.
Allotment garden plots given out
1982
Reagan’s “war on communism”
Intelligence collection at all-time high in East and West Berlin
1983–86
Nina works intelligence operations in East Berlin
U.S. Pershing missiles deployed in West Germany
Reforger 83 and Able Archer 83 simulate conventional, chemical, and nuclear war in Europe. Soviets perceive possibility of NATO first strike.
Tensions escalate
1984
Cordula takes Jugendweihe oath
Opa dies
1985
Cordula enters national team and trains in East Berlin
Nina operational in East Berlin
Soviet leader Gorbachev begins reforms. Honecker opposed to change.
U.S. Army Major Nicholson shot and killed while on USMLM mission in East Germany
1986
Hanna and Eddie visit Berlin
1987
Cordula travels outside East Germany to compete in world championships. Prepares for Olympics.
Reagan urges Gorbachev to “Tear down this Wall”
Gorbachev continues to restructure the Soviet Union, urging other Soviet bloc countries to follow his lead
1988
In Switzerland, Cordula’s teammate defects
Roland dies
1989
Life goes on as usual for family in the East
Cordula becomes last East German champion in point track race
Gorbachev influences fall of East bloc. Honecker resists. Crowd calls for freedom.
February: Last person killed trying to cross the Wall
August: Hungary opens borders
September: Demonstrators in East Germany: “We want out!” Police crack down.
October: Honecker demands East Germany’s fortieth anniversary festivities go on as scheduled
Leipzig demonstrations
November 4: One million East Germans attend prodemocracy demonstrations in East Berlin
November 9, 1989
Cordula trains in East Berlin
Heidi in Karl Marx City
Hanna and Nina in Washington, D.C.
Berlin Wall falls. East Germans are free.
PREFACE
The [Berlin] Wall is . . . an offense not only against history but an offense against humanity, separating families, dividing husbands and wives and brothers and sisters, and dividing a people who wish to be joined together.
—President John F. Kennedy
I was five years old when I learned that my grandmother lived behind a curtain. The year was 1966. It was Grandparents Day in kindergarten. In a slow-moving stream of little children holding hands with the elderly, my classmates brought in their grandparents, sweet-looking old people with pates of silky white or graying hair, weathered faces etched in soft creases, twinkly eyes, and benevolent smiles.
I sat at my desk, watching them come in. They greeted the teacher cordially and one another as they shuffled in and made their way into seats set up next to each child’s desk. One at a time, my friends excitedly led their grandparents to the front of the classroom and proudly presented them to the rest of us, introducing them by names like Nana, Poppa, Mimi—which were as foreign to me as they were intoxicating—as their grandparents stood by beaming down at them lovingly. I was entranced by it all. Suddenly I felt alone and left out. I looked at them, then panned to the empty chair next to my desk, which got me wondering, where were my grandparents?
I came home from school that day wanting answers. I bounded through the front door, found my mother in the kitchen, and, without any greeting whatsoever, demanded, “Where are my grandparents?”
That evening, after dinner, my parents sat me down and told me why I had never met any of my relatives. Speaking in gentle but serious tones, my father, who was of German-Jewish background, explained that his family had all “died in the war.” In my naïveté, I was unaffected, and turned to my mother, expecting to be disappointed by her as well, but was delighted to learn that her parents and family were alive. She brought out a photograph of her mother and said, “This is your Oma.”
Oma. She was perfect. She looked exactly like the other grandmothers, but better. She radiated serenity and calm, a winsome, knowing smile gracing her face. Though I couldn’t put it into words then, I was drawn to her pastoral elegance, her humility, her wise, confident disposition as she sat comfortably in an inviting, overstuffed polka-dotted armchair, her body positioned slightly askew, as she looked off to one side.
I stared at the picture for a long time, scanning her from head to toe, even cocked the picture just so, so it felt as if she were smiling directly at me. Despite the fact that I now know the photo was black-and-white, perhaps out of some subconscious desire to bring her instantly to life I saw Oma in color, pale blue eyes beneath those soft, heavy lids and what appeared to me to be blushing, pink cheeks. She had a simple upswept hairdo, the color the same brunette as mine, and wore two pieces of jewelry, a large brooch in the shape of a rose, probably made of gold, I thought, and a small pin that adorned a matronly black dress at the base of her V-neck collar. I imagined myself curling up on her plump, cushy lap and being swept up in an exquisite, warm embrace as she gazed down at me the very same way my classmates’ grandparents had gazed down at them.
“Oma,” I said aloud, charmed by the singsong ring of her name. Completely satisfied, I looked back up at my mother and asked, “When is she coming to visit?”
Unfortunately, my mother said, suddenly distracted as she got up to move about the kitchen, Oma could not visit us. Nor could we visit her. She was in a place called East Germany along with the rest of my mother’s family, her sisters, brothers, and everyone else. I didn’t understand, so my mother stopped, perched me on a kitchen stool, crouched down to meet me eye to eye, and explained.
When she was finished, I stared blankly back. Though I realize now that she must have used the term Iron Curtain, the only part of her explanation I understood at that moment was that they were in a place far away, trapped behind “a curtain.” But this made no sense to me. I tried to comprehend why my mother would allow a sheer cotton panel like the kind I had on my bedroom window, or even heavy draperies like those hanging in our living room, to stand between her and her family. Someone, I thought, simply needed to pull that sheet of fabric to the side and let those poor people out. Someday, she reassured me, we might be able to meet them. Someday indeed. For goodness’ sakes, I thought. It’s just a curtain.
Nina, age five
Courtesy of the Willner family
Oma, behind the Iron Curtain
Courtesy of the Willner family
I went back to school the next day and told my teacher and friends that I too had grandparents, that my Oma was beautiful and, moreover, that I even had people called aunts, uncles, and cousins. My teacher was delighted. When she asked where they lived, I said East Germany, “behind a curtain.”
It was only when I saw her cheery face drop to a somber and sympathetic one that I realized the curtain might be bigger than I had imagined.
It would be several years into my childhood before I would discover that the Iron Curtain was not a simple panel of cloth that could easily be pushed aside by those on either side of it, but rather a symbol of something much bigger and more sinister than anything that childhood innocence could conceive. I would come to learn that my mother’s entire family was indeed trapped inside East Germany and that my mother had escaped.
1985 | EAST BERLIN
In the musty East Berlin velodrome, with stopwatch in hand, the trainer blew the whistle and the East German women’s national cycling team took off. Pedaling their single-gear track bikes, they moved easily, gradually accelerating as they made their way around the 250-meter pinewood track.
Winding their way around the oval in a graceful, measured cadence, they slid seamlessly into a tight paceline, their bikes only inches apart, their thin tires gripping the track’s shiny lacquered finish.
Syncing technique with speed, they postured for position, increasing speed on the straights and banking on the curves. Then, when their trainers shouted for better form and more effort, East Germany’s top-tier cyclists broke out of their tight formation and pushed at full bore.
By the next lap, they were full-on, jostling for control of the track, pushing with everything they had, their tires seemingly defying gravity, clinging to the track’s slippery, steep-sloped walls by centrifugal force. They jetted down the straightaway, passing their trainers in a whoosh, the trainers yelling “Weiter! Schneller!” (Faster!) and the athletes responded, pouring themselves into every pedal stroke with ferocity.