Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

I loved this. I came across the story of tunnel 29 via the podcast series that covered it and was hooked. This book was just as fascinating. I like how it went back and did a bit of the history before the wall to set the scene and despite the fact I knew the outcome I was still as gripped reading this as when I listened to the podcast. A really brilliant read.

This is a gripping account of the the final days of the Second World War and its aftermath when an already traumatised German populace is riven in two, caught between Stalin's ambitions for a communist government in the East and a Western style democracy in the West.

Berlin becomes the epicentre of the division with Ulbricht's orders to construct the Wall that callously separates husband from wife, parents from children, in an effort to prevent people fleeing the hardship, mass surveillance and mistrust that overshadows their lives.

I've read a lot about WW2 but I have rarely gone beyond the resolution, apart from reading about the Nuremberg trials.

Merriman details how a group of brave students decide to risk everything to tunnel in to the East and rescue as many friends and relatives as they can. They face backbreaking physical work for months on end digging in precarious tunnels at risk of flooding and collapse, with the real prospect of betrayal, arrest and interrogation if caught. They come to the attention of an American journalist from NBC who wants to follow their attempt and broadcast a documentary, which leads to difficult questions of trust, ethics, and places the White House in a quandary at a time when the world seems to teeter on the brink of nuclear war.

This book takes you up close to the men and women who were brave, desperate, angry and obstinately clinging onto the hope that they could make a difference. What is so sobering is how recent this period of history is, and how things escalated quickly from seemingly minor, if unsettling, infringement of personal liberties to a state of all-out fear and violence.

This is a book of the year for me! Outstanding!

The story of tunnel 29 is one I’ve been familiar with – it’s not the first time it has been covered by films and books. And I knew the outcome, so nothing should have come as a surprise. But Merriman manages to narrate the story in a way that reads like the tensest, most gripping spy thriller. She introduces you to the characters – real people – their fears, hopes, dreams, pains, turns them into living, breathing, 3-dimensional, nuanced people, and thus brings their desperation to escape the East German regime home like a hammer. Not even the villains in this are two-dimensional baddies. You learn of their pasts, their stakes, what motivated them to work for one of the most complex and vicious secret police forces in history.
At the same time, Merriman delivers a fantastic summary and insight into the system and history of the East German state and introduces their main figures and the machinations and tactics of the Stasi. The fascinating stories behind famous photographs are woven into the narrative, for instance, the tale of the border guard who jumped the barbed wire fence into the West.
And she describes the tense days around the erection of the wall, the despair of the German people over the West not intervening, and the reason behind that. All of this sets the scene for one of the biggest, most elaborate escapes in Cold War history, one that could have had terrible consequences on an international level, financed and documented by American news station NBC right under the nose of the secret police, with all its successes, failures and setbacks, a story that left me on the edge of my seat and gasping at the tension, near misses and sheer guts of the escape helpers.
Yet it needs to be read as the story of the very people involved in a specific event. As an East German, I do get wary of one-sided sensationalist stories of what life was like in the GDR, because it’s not a blanket experience for everyone. Many led ordinary, unaffected lives, as long as you did not get into the crosshairs of the Stasi. Many of us were not even aware of the full scope of state control exerted unless we were directly affected, and only learned about it afterward. Many took it as just the way things were and did not know any different. One of the biggest achievements of the Stasi was their ability to be everywhere without being seen, and so many of our memories were coloured by hindsight.
But Helena Merriman, just like Anna Funder did in the incredible Stasiland, with all her research and passion, managed to take historical events and turn them back into the genuine human interest stories they were to begin with, with sensitivity and cultural awareness that is hard to imitate.
An absolute must-read for people fascinated by the Cold War and German history. Easily my favourite history title of this year.

An absolutely gripping account of how people from East Berlin escaped through a tunnel beneath the Wall in 1962. The book is based on a BBC podcast by journalist Helena Merriman and uses sources such as interviews, film and Stasi files to build an amazing narrative.

The main character in the book is Joachim Rudolph, whose family was torn apart by the Russians after the defeat of Germany in the Second World War. He managed to escape to West Berlin but was willing to risk his life again to help bring people over, with a group of students who dug a tunnel. After we have Joachim’s early years and some historical background, we hear about others, on both sides of the Wall – families and couples desperate to be reunited and also the informants who tried to foil escape plots. We hear about the interrogations, show trials and imprisonments. Another strand is the NBC documentary film, The Tunnel, controversial at the time because the producers helped fund the tunnel diggers. The details suggest that this film, which almost wasn’t aired, may have helped bring President Kennedy to Berlin, where he made his famous speech.

You don’t need to know anything about this subject before reading the book, as everything is explained in a clear, non-patronising way. If you already have some knowledge, the book will help add to this. The most impressive aspect is the writing style, which is like a real-life thriller, even using the present tense sometimes to make you feel as if you are right there – in solitary confinement in prison, or crawling along a tunnel, or trying to act normally as you pass armed guards at the checkpoint.

The book includes a ‘where are they now?’ section at the end, plus notes, sources, places and bibliography. I didn’t mind not having images (they will be included in the published book) as some can be found online.

Highly recommended, a must-read which shows you what people will risk for freedom.

[This review will be on my blog, 19th July]

I loved this. I came across the story of tunnel 29 via the podcast series that covered it and was hooked. This book was just as fascinating. I like how it went back and did a bit of the history before the wall to set the scene and despite the fact I knew the outcome I was still as gripped reading this as when I listened to the podcast. A really brilliant read.