08/25/2014
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. (Oct.)
General Brent Scowcroft, former National Security Adviser
“In The Collapse, Mary Elise Sarotte provides a needed (and highly readable) reminder that the peaceful culmination to 1989's dramatic developments was in no way inevitable.”
Tom Brokaw
“The Collapse is a riveting and important account of the political chaos in East Germany that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Mary Elise Sarotte is a distinguished historian with a playwright's eye who gives us fresh insights and telling anecdotes about one of the most important nights of the late twentieth century."
Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor and author of The Future of Power
“The fall of the Berlin Wall was one of the landmark events of the twentieth century, but this great change involved accidental and non-violent causes. In wonderfully readable prose, Mary Elise Sarotte tells a compelling story of how history works its surprises.”
William Taubman, Bertrand Snell Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Amherst College and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Khrushchev: The Man and His Era
“Can you believe that the fall of the Berlin Wall was a mistake? That the event that changed the world was the result of a series of misunderstandings? Mary Elise Sarotte’s fine, important book, based on painstaking archival research as well as extensive interviews, will not only convince you, but entertain you as well.”
Mike Leary, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
“From a remove of 25 years, the fall of the Berlin Wall seems foreordained. In fact, as Mary Elise Sarotte shows, this historic moment was an improbable concatenation of events and decisions triggering in perfect if accidental sequence. Catastrophe at times was just seconds away. As someone who was in Leipzig and Berlin as the crucial events unfolded, I can say that Sarotte gets it exactly right, capturing the fear, confusion, courage, and growing excitement as hitherto ordinary people peacefully toppled the deadly barrier that symbolized the Cold War.”
10/15/2014
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
2014-07-30
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 Miklós Németh 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 Günter Schabowski announcing apparent new possibilities to emigrate, to Bornholmer Street border officer Harald Jäger's beleaguered decision to fling open the gates. More systematic than suspenseful, this account amply conveys the universal amazement and excitement of the time.
