The Collapse

August 25, 2014
The Soviet Union suffered the most significant symbolic defeat in the Cold War with the fall of the Berlin Wall, but Sarotte, professor of government and history at Harvard University, thinks that is only half of the story. What emerges from this detailed account is that, contrary to popular belief, neither secret plans by German officials nor behind-the-scenes agreements between U.S. President Reagan and Soviet leader Gorbachev caused the barrier between East and West Berlin to crumble; the political breech occurred via a series of miscues by short-sighted Communist-bloc authorities. With growing mass protests in East Germany, an inept statement delivered at a press conference by a functionary from SED (the country’s ruling party) on Nov. 9, 1989, sparked a battle between dissidents and East German security forces that led the Wall to come down much sooner than expected by either side. Sarotte carefully etches his narrative of the momentous shattering of the Wall, coloring it with social, political, and personal details, including anecdotes about the death of young Chris Gueffroy, the last East German shot before the barrier came down, and about Harald Jager, the senior officer giving the order to open a key crossing. This gripping, important account of a long-misinterpreted event is one of the most surprising books about the Cold War.

October 15, 2014

Sarotte's (history, international relations, Univ. of Southern California; 1989: The Struggle To Create Post-Cold War Europe) latest work discusses the fall of the Berlin Wall from a mostly West German perspective, examining the myriad intertwined political and social elements that resulted in the opening of the wall in November 1989. This deeply complex event is widely discussed and analyzed in its own right as one of the factors leading to the fall of the Soviet Union. The author uses primary sources, such as personal memoirs, interviews, and public broadcasts to shine a spotlight on the public and private figures whose actions, inactions, decisions, or errors led to the falling of the wall. She utilizes international reactions, publications, and interviews to highlight or offset her main narrative and in doing so creates a cohesive picture of a tumultuous nation whose oppressed yet hopeful citizenry sought the freedom they had been denied. VERDICT Amply researched and emotive, this work shares the full narrative of events leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall in a way that both academics and lay readers will appreciate. Those already familiar with the subjects and time frames involved will definitely benefit from the author's extensive research and emphasis on personal narratives.--Elizabeth Zeitz, Otterbein Univ. Lib., Westerville, OH

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August 15, 2014
A rigorous sifting of evidence surrounding the final toppling of the sclerotic East German state.With extensive use of Stasi files, Sarotte (History/Univ. of Southern California; 1989: The Struggle to Create Post-Cold War Europe, 2009) finds that accident, rather than planning, caused the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Although the author acknowledges the importance of certain external factors-Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev's four-year "new thinking" reforms, President Ronald Reagan's famous call for tearing down the wall in 1987-she unearths evidence of the key roles of provincial players, rather than politicians, in the crisis culminating on Nov. 9, 1989. The German Democratic Republic, under the aging iron grip of Erich Honecker, was losing its control over the border crossings as a result of the effects of the Conference of Security and Cooperation in Europe, which eased East Germans' ability to leave the country; moreover, the shoot-to-kill policy of the border police had grown muddied due to international humanitarian outcry. Meanwhile, the Stasi somewhat tolerated certain religious groups, and St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig had managed to turn itself into a substantial hub for nonviolent protest movements. Also, cooperation among Soviet bloc members began to break down in 1989: Hungarian Prime Minister Miklos Nemeth and colleagues decided to ease Hungary's border restrictions, creating a mass exodus by GDR holidaygoers in the spring and summer, encouraged and welcomed by West German leader Helmut Kohl. Sarotte follows the countdown to collapse, from the growth of a massive civil disobedience demonstration in Leipzig on Oct. 9, to the confused international press conference given by East German Politburo member Gunter Schabowski announcing apparent new possibilities to emigrate, to Bornholmer Street border officer Harald Jager's beleaguered decision to fling open the gates. More systematic than suspenseful, this account amply conveys the universal amazement and excitement of the time.

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Starred review from September 1, 2014
On the evening of November 9, 1989, as millions of television viewers watched, an extraordinary sight unfolded. Apparently believing that free passage was to be allowed, East German border guards, some looking befuddled, stood by passively as a trickle of East Berliners walked unimpeded across the access point to West Berlin. Within hours, crowds, some delirious with joy, gathered on both sides of the Berlin Wall; some even carried hammers, which they used to symbolically chip away at the stone fortification. It seemed the beleaguered government of East Germany had finally acquiesced to the demands of its citizens for the right to travel freely. Actually, no such softening had occurred. The opening of the wall resulted from several confused and contradictory orders from Communist Party officials who still regarded any unauthorized breaches of the borders by East German citizens as a severe crime. Yet, as this inspiring and often thrilling account reveals, the repressive government of East Germany had already been drastically weakened by external events but also by the actions of many courageous citizens prepared to resist the government and its feared security arm, the infamous Stasi. These true heroes, many of them previously anonymous, included youthful idealists, provincial officials, churchmen, and even a few relatively well-placed party officials. Sarotte pays well-deserved tribute to them in her account of the collapse, not merely of the wall but of the whole rotting edifice of the East German state.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)