Contrast in Germany

Abstract

The general picture of East Germany cultivated by the British press (and possibly also by the American press) is of a gray and silent land prostrate beneath the relentless Russian boot, a sector of the map withdrawn from civilization, a place of fear and hunger. It goes without saying that this picture bears no recognizable resemblance to reality. Nor would the opposite extremes—of a joyful land of generous and carefree democrats—do much better. As always, the truth lies somewhere between extreme interpretations; in the case of East Germany it is a median which is unusually hard to find.

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