The Unification of Germany in the 19th century is one of the standout moments in contemporary

European history. In its shadow, Europe sees the emergence of a new great military power

as well as an economic dynamo which could rival the likes of the United States and the British

Empire. And yet, less than a century later in 1949, the country was once more torn

asunder in two parts. After defeat in two world wars and economic collapse, there was now a West

Germany and East Germany. East Germany was a historic experiment. It was a communist state

on German soil. Yet, despite that, its history has been somewhat neglected. We don't really

talk about it very much, principally because it disappeared from maps after 1990.

But that's a shame, because the communist DDR, for a time at least, was able to provide rising

living standards and in certain aspects be a world leader on things like women's rights.

Which is why today's guest is Katja Hoyer. She's a historian and the author of a new book

beyond the Waller history of East Germany. Katja, welcome to Downstream. How are you?

Good, thank you. You've written this new book about East Germany, its history. What moved you

to write a book about a country which hasn't existed for over 30 years? Well, it was partially a

personal decision because I was born in that country, which doesn't exist anymore. And there's a

sense that was, you know, it was very young when the wall came down, it was only four years old.

It's still a country that, you know, you were born in, the city that I was born in with him,

peach.google was called after the first president of the GDR. So you will neither find the country

nor the city that I was born in on the map today. And that leaves you with the sense of, you

know, wanting to almost go back and explore where you came from, maybe where you would have come

from had you been born 10, 15, 20 years earlier. And secondly, from a historian's point of view,

I feel that the history of this country, of the German democratic republic, as it was called,

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