The Interrogation: the Stasi and the StB

I caught this episode (7) from Tunnel 29 on BBC Radio 4 when I was in my car. It held my attention.

BBC Programme Information:

“That’s the first time I saw her again.” Wolfdieter's show trial begins.

Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Helena Merriman tells the extraordinary true story of a man who dug a tunnel into the East, right under the feet of border guards, to help friends, family and strangers escape. The series is based on original interviews with the survivors as well as thousands of documents from the Stasi archives and recordings from the tunnel".

Producer and Presenter: Helena Merriman
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore
Translation and additional research: Sabine Schereck
Editor: Richard Knight

I was reminded of Edwin Muir's powerful poem "The Interrogation":

"We could have crossed the road but hesitated,
And then came the patrol;
The leader conscientious and intent,
The men surly, indifferent.
While we stood by and waited
The interrogation began. He says the whole
Must come out now, who, what we are,
Where we have come from, with what purpose, whose
Country or camp we plot for or betray.
Question on question.
We have stood and answered through the standing day
And watched across the road beyond the hedge
The careless lovers in pairs go by,
Hand linked in hand, wandering another star,
So near we could shout to them. We cannot choose
Answer or action here,
Though still the careless lovers saunter by
And the thoughtless field is near.
We are on the very edge,
Endurance almost done,
And still the interrogation is going on".

Edwin Muir

My new book of short stories, "This Spinning World" also contains a story about an StB interrogation in Czechoslovakia. The story is called Miroslav's Dream.