Shadowland: The Story of Germany Told by Its Prisoners
A history of modern Germany told not through the lives of its leaders, but its lawbreakers.
 
As Nelson Mandela said, “a nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” Shadowland tells the sometimes inspiring, often painful stories of Germany’s prisoners, and thereby shines new light on Germany itself. The story begins at the end of the Second World War, in a defeated country on the edge of collapse, in which orphaned and lost children are forced into homelessness, scavenging and stealing to stay alive, often laying the foundations of a so-called criminal career. While East Germany developed detention facilities for its secret police, West Germany passed prison reform laws, which erected, in the words of a prisoner, “little asbestos walls in Hell.” Shadowland is Germany as seen through the lives, experiences, triumphs, and tragedies of its lowest citizens.
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Shadowland: The Story of Germany Told by Its Prisoners
A history of modern Germany told not through the lives of its leaders, but its lawbreakers.
 
As Nelson Mandela said, “a nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” Shadowland tells the sometimes inspiring, often painful stories of Germany’s prisoners, and thereby shines new light on Germany itself. The story begins at the end of the Second World War, in a defeated country on the edge of collapse, in which orphaned and lost children are forced into homelessness, scavenging and stealing to stay alive, often laying the foundations of a so-called criminal career. While East Germany developed detention facilities for its secret police, West Germany passed prison reform laws, which erected, in the words of a prisoner, “little asbestos walls in Hell.” Shadowland is Germany as seen through the lives, experiences, triumphs, and tragedies of its lowest citizens.
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Shadowland: The Story of Germany Told by Its Prisoners

Shadowland: The Story of Germany Told by Its Prisoners

by Sarah Colvin
Shadowland: The Story of Germany Told by Its Prisoners

Shadowland: The Story of Germany Told by Its Prisoners

by Sarah Colvin

Hardcover

$35.00 
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Overview

A history of modern Germany told not through the lives of its leaders, but its lawbreakers.
 
As Nelson Mandela said, “a nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” Shadowland tells the sometimes inspiring, often painful stories of Germany’s prisoners, and thereby shines new light on Germany itself. The story begins at the end of the Second World War, in a defeated country on the edge of collapse, in which orphaned and lost children are forced into homelessness, scavenging and stealing to stay alive, often laying the foundations of a so-called criminal career. While East Germany developed detention facilities for its secret police, West Germany passed prison reform laws, which erected, in the words of a prisoner, “little asbestos walls in Hell.” Shadowland is Germany as seen through the lives, experiences, triumphs, and tragedies of its lowest citizens.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781789146271
Publisher: Reaktion Books, Limited
Publication date: 10/24/2022
Pages: 256
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Sarah Colvin is the Schröder Professor of German at the University of Cambridge. She has participated in prison-based arts and education projects and is an advisory group member for the National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance. She is the author or editor of numerous books, including The Routledge Handbook of German Politics and Culture.

Table of Contents

Preface 7

Foreword 9

Part I Unity, Rights and Freedom: West Germany, 1949-68

1 A New Start? 27

2 The Rubble Children 41

3 First Calls for Reform 52

Part II A Model and Looking Good? West Germany 1968-89

4 The German Model 67

5 Terrorist Interventions 82

6 'How do you bear it?' 96

Part III Risen from the Ruins: East Germany 1949-89

7 Bearing Witness 111

8 Stasi Stories 130

9 The Big Prison 147

Part IV Wind of Change: Germany after 1989

10 Wind of Change or Plus ça Change? 167

11 Death in Siegburg and Other Stories 189

12 The Desocialization Machine - Remixed 201

Afterword: The Mirror and the Microcosm 217

References 225

Further Reading 266

Acknowledgements 269

Photo Acknowledgements 271

Index 273

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