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What can a Stasi prisoner tell us about life behind the Iron Curtain?
Aims:
- To investigate life behind the Iron Curtain in the cold War
- To evaluate a range of different types of information sources and evidence
- To reach a balanced conclusion on why the Wall fell in 1989
Why were you against the GDR?
Were you always against it?
What experiences turned you against the GDR?
Why were you fired from the university you worked at?
Did you agree with Marxist philosophy?
What was life like in the GDR?
Were you afraid of the Stasi?
How did you end up in prison?
What happened on the day of your arrest?
How long were you in prison?
What were the conditions like?
How did the guards treat you?
When did you find out that it was your friend who betrayed you?
How did you feel that your friend had betrayed you?
Were you allowed to have any contact with the outside world?
How did it feel to be released early?
How did you finally make it over the border?
How did you feel in your first days and months in the West?
Did your opinion of the GDR change once in the West?
How did prison change you and your opinions?
