The Uses of Adversity

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Ten years ago Timothy Garton Ash came to East Berlin to find out from the archives what the Berliners had done under Hitler. Instead he found out - from the streets - what the Berliners were doing under Honecker. He observed the 'elections’; interviewed the local party members and talked into the night with an actor ('Dr Faust') who also worked for the State Security Service. He wrote about what he saw - in German - and the authorities protested. When he tried to return to East Berlin, he was turned back. He went to Poland and wrote a history of Solidarity. It was translated into Polish and became an underground bestseller. He was blacklisted at the frontier. He went to Prague to attend a Charter 77 meeting, but was met instead by the secret police. His reputation now seems to arrive before him. Ten years ago Timothy Garton Ash began to discover Central Europe. 'The Uses of Adversity' records what he found.