cover image Berlin Witness

Berlin Witness

G. Jonathan Greenwald. Pennsylvania State University Press, $76 (347pp) ISBN 978-0-271-00932-2

As political counselor and third-ranking officer at the U.S. embassy in the German Democratic Republic during its final months, Greenwald had a unique vantage point from which to observe the end of German communism and the dismantling of the Berlin Wall. In this reconstructed diary, he provides expert political analysis on the effects of glasnost and perestroika on East Berliners, the breakdown of the old order, the fall of Erich Honecker's regime, the channeling of violent protests into peaceful dialogue and events throughout Nov. 10, 1989, when the border was finally opened. Greenwald carries the story forward to October 3, 1990, the day when the two German states legally became one and the U.S. embassy in East Berlin was officially closed. He notes that although the East Germans are ``viewed as mendicants asking for costly handouts,'' they brought about the political miracle in Germany in the fall of 1989. Greenwald predicts, however, that unification is unlikely to be a true partnership for at least a generation. Photos. (June)