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Cake day: August 7th, 2024

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  • If you’re interested in a straightforward English language account of life in the GDR, I recommend “A Socialist Defector: From Harvard to Karl-Marx-Allee” by Victor Grossmann, who defected by way of crossing into Soviet occupied Austria.

    He addresses the perks (price fixed goods (at least staples), cheap public transport, the position of and benefits to the worker) and what could be considered drawbacks by western readers (Stasi, press freedom, limited travel opportunities, industriality of the region) in a fairly evenhanded manner. It’s been years since I’ve read this so I might be a bit off base.

    A good companion piece is “Stasi State or Socialist Paradise?” for a more analytical “overview” rather than the perspective of one man.

    Both of these works deal with the end of the GDR and it’s bleak.