FILM RECOMMENDATION
The Stasi and the Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall was erected on August 13, 1961 and it became a financial windfall for the East German Police (Stasi). Twenty-eight years later, thousands of agents were employed to make the Berlin Wall insurmountable. Available on YouTube.
BOOK RECOMMENDATION
Tunnel 29: The True Story of an Extraordinary Escape Beneath the Berlin Wall, by journalist, documentary-maker and author Helena Merriman. In 1962 a group of students dug a tunnel beneath the Berlin Wall; 29 people escaped. To evade detection by the Stasi, the tunnel was dug from West to East. At an early point in the digging, a leak began. The water utility department advised the students to inform the West German intelligence services. The leak was stopped, the water drained, and the students continued digging. Published by PublicAffairs, 2023, in French or English. Available on Amazon.