May I mention one book which deserves mention IMHO. It was not[/b] written from a German perspective, and by an American, one who was there.
The book is Slaughterhouse Five, or The Children's Crusade : A Duty-Dance with Death, , published 1969, a powerful anti-war science fiction novel byKurt Vonnegut, Jr, (Breakfast of Champions, Cat's Cradle.)
The book features an exhausted, fatalistic American soldier, captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge and imprisoned in Dresden, where he lived trough and survived the fire-bombing of what was once known as "the Florence of Germany". It happened between February 13 and 15, 1945. It was Vonnegut's own experience. The book is unforgettable.
Incidentally, the German word for "Intelligence" was" Abwehr = counter espionage.
Jude mentioned the Stasi. Indeed, it existed, but was created after the war. Please let me explain.
In 1945, Germany was divided into four zones occupied, respectively, by the British, the French, the U.S. and Russia - which held the entire East. The capital, Berlin, located in the middle of the Soviet zone, was, in turn, divided into four sectors.
When, sixty years ago, the Soviets blocked off all rail and road supply lines to the city of Berlin, the U.S. established the famous Berlin Airlift (=Luftbrücke) and flew in food for the Berliners. An courageous, unforgettsable act of heroism.
Russia sealed all its borders and established checkpoints at road and rail crossings. (I witnessed only the latter.) Armed soldiers with attack dogs patrolled up and down the platform -- until every passenger trying to enter East Germany had been "inspected" and shown his papers. An East German visa in had to be secured beforehand. No western newspapers or magazines were allowed in, and no West-Mark.
The Soviets printed yheir own money, paper and coins, the "Ostmark", which was negotiable only in East Germany. and had no value anywhere else. They also had their own postal service and rail system, such as it was.
On arrival, visitors had to "sign in" at the police station and indicate where and how long they would be staying. So much per person per diem had to be paid in advance - and I can't remember how we accomplished that - given the fact that we could nott bring in any western money.
Before leaving, we had to "sign out" at the police station. The control on the way out was harsher and took much longer - though only East Geran retirees were allowed out. The atmosphere in the compartment was tense. The door to the corridor had to remain closed. Nobody was allowed to leave their seat.
On my second trip back in the company of my daughter and son, we heard a commotion, a woman crying, dogs barking furiously. We saw nothing.
Only when we heard the sound of the electric engine being reconnected did we relax.
The German government of East Germany ruled at the pleasure of the Russians. The secret police (for the "security of the state" (= Staats-sicherheits-dienst) had many spies, some of them in the Government of West Germany (!). It became known as "Stasi" and was operative until the curtain fell.
Since then, prominent East Geman writers were fond to have spied for the Stasi. There have been other such scandalous revelations that rocked West Germany.
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