The girl at the edge of the World - an East German childhood at the West German Border (248)

Cold War Conversations

A young Claudia Bierschenk lived in a village surrounded by hills, valleys and thick forests at the edge of a world called the GDR. It could be beautiful, but the Iron Curtain runs through it, like a tectonic plate separating East and West and Claudia from her West German relatives.

She tells of her life in this isolated area, of village life, far away from the socialist showpiece of East Berlin, where there are only two types of yoghurt in the village store.

In a series of snapshots, we re-live her childhood of secretly watching West German TV, learning “Marxism-Leninism for kids” at school, and the rare joy of a phone call from the West.

We also hear of her parents’ challenges. For her father, it’s his home village, but he is criticised for his liberal views and for wearing Western braces to school. Locals see her mother as an outsider, and she yearns for a life in the West with her sister in West Berlin.

Claudia has distilled these stories into a book, Never Mind, Comrade, published by Tangerine Press. Buy the book here https://uk.bookshop.org/a/1549/9781910691700

0:00 Introduction and Claudia Bierschenk's early life in the GDR

6:50 Claudia's family occupations and life in a small town

14:08 Education and the system of punishment and reward in East German schools

24:06 Viewing Western television and maintaining contact with relatives in West Germany

33:07 Claudia's family experiences with the Berlin Wall and escape attempts

38:42 School experiences and navigating discussions in East Germany

44:13 Tightening of border controls and holidays in Hungary

49:56 After school activities and sports under the ideology ofEast Germany

51:30 "Nevermind Comrade" book by Claudia Bierschenk

52:00 Acknowledgement of financial supporters and call to action

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I am delighted to welcome Claudia Bierschenk to our Cold War conversation…

Listen to the 2nd part of this interview here. https://pod.fo/e/1395f8

Extra episode info here. https://coldwarconversations.com/episode248

All photos are © Claudia Bierschenk.

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Radio GDR

If you are interested in East Germany we can highly recommend our friends over at Radio GDR.

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