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PART ONE

WALL

1961

CHAPTER ONE

Rebecca Hoffmann was summoned by the secret police on a rainy Monday in 1961

It began as an ordinaryHer husband drove her to work in his tan Trabant 500 The graceful old streets of central Berlin still had gaps fros stood up like ill- about his job as he drove "The courts serve the judges, the lawyers, the police, the government--everyone except the victims of crime," he said "This is to be expected in Western capitalist countries, but under Coht surely to serve the people My colleagues don't seem to realize that" Hans worked for the Ministry of Justice

"We've been married almost a year, and I've known you for two, but I've never ues," Rebecca said

"They would bore you," he said immediately "They're all lawyers"

"Any wo them?"

"No Not injudges, scheduling trials,courthouses

"I'd like to meet them, all the same"

Hans was a stronghier at her insistence He controlled it by an effort of will "I'll arrange so"

Hans had been the first man Rebecca met who matched up to her father He was confident and authoritative, but he always listened to her He had a good job--not many people had a car of their own in East Gerovernly, shared Rebecca's political skepticism Like her father he was tall, handso for

Only once during their courtship had she doubted him, briefly They had been in a minor car crash It had been wholly the fault of the other driver, who had cos happened every day, but Hans had been e to the two cars was minimal, he had called the police, shown them his Ministry of Justice identity card, and had the other driver arrested for dangerous driving and taken off to jail

Afterward he had apologized to Rebecca for losing his temper She had been scared by his vindictiveness, and had co their relationship But he had explained that he had not been his normal self, due to pressure at work, and she had believed him Her faith had been justified: he had never done such a thing again

When they had been dating for a year, and sleeping together most weekends for six months, Rebecca wondered why he did not ask her to ht, he thirty-three So she had proposed to him He had been startled, but said yes

Now he pulled up outside her school It was a , and well equipped: the Coates, five or six older boys were standing under a tree, s their stares, Rebecca kissed Hans on the lips Then she got out

The boys greeted her politely, but she felt their yearning adolescent eyes on her figure as she splashed through the puddles in the school yard

Rebecca carandfather had been a Social De, the national parliament, until Hitler came to power Her mother had been a city councilor, also for the Social De East Berlin's brief postwar period of democracy But East Germany was a Co in politics So she channeled her idealiseneration would be less dogmatic, more compassionate, smarter

In the staff rooency timetable on the notice board Most of her classes were doubled today, two groups of pupils crammed into one roolish class She did not speak English, though she had picked up a srandmother, Maud, still feisty at seventy

This was the second tilish class, and she began to think about a text The first time, she had used a leaflet handed out to Aet on with Germans: the pupils had found it hilarious, and they had learned a lot too Today perhaps she would write on the blackboard the words of a song they knew, such as "The Twist"--played all the tiet them to translate it into German It would not be a conventional lesson, but it was the best she could do

The school was desperately short of teachers because half the staff had erated to West Gerher and people were free The story was the same in most schools in East Germany And it was not just teachers Doctors could double their earnings byat a large East Berlin hospital, and she was tearing her hair out at the scarcity of both nurses and doctors The story was the same in industry and even the armed forces It was a national crisis

As Rebecca was scribbling the lyrics of "The Twist" in a notebook, trying to remember the line about "my little sis," the deputy head came into the staff room Bernd Held was probably Rebecca's best friend outside her family He was a slim, dark-haired man of forty, with a livid scar across his forehead where a shard of flying shrapnel had struck hihts in the last days of the war He taught physics, but he shared Rebecca's interest in Russian literature, and they ate their lunchtiether a couple of times a week "Listen, everybody," Bernd said "Bad news, I'm afraid Anselm has left us"

There was a murmur of surprise Anselm Weber was the head teacher He was a loyal Communist--heads had to be But it seemed his principles had been overcome by the appeal of West German prosperity and liberty

Bernd went on: "I will be taking his place until a new head can be appointed" Rebecca and every other teacher in the school knew that Bernd hiot the job, if ability had been what counted; but Bernd was ruled out because he would not join the Socialist Unity Party, the SED--the Communist Party in all but name

For the same reason, Rebecca would never be a head teacher Anselm had pleaded with her to join the party, but it was out of the question For her it would be like checking herself into a lunatic asylu all the other inmates were sane