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Susanne Schädlich
Susanne Schädlich (born 29 November 1965) is a German writer and literary translator. She is also experienced as a "ghost writer". The daughter of a high-profile East German :de:Hans Joachim Schädlich, dissident intellectual, she came to wider prominence with her 2009 book "Immer wieder Dezember. Der Westen, die Stasi, der Onkel und ich" (''loosely "December, always December. The west, the Stasi, the uncle and I"'') in which she tells the story of her childhood in the two Germanies during the Cold War, and the impact of discovering that her trusted and loved :de:Karlheinz Schädlich, uncle (who later killed himself on a Berlin park bench) had been Unofficial collaborator, spying on her family through much of her childhood in order to report on them to the widely detested Stasi, Ministry for State Security apparatus (Stasi). Early life and education Susanne Schädlich was born in Jena, in the southern part of the German Democratic Republic, German Democratic Republic (East Ger ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West Germany
West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital city of Bonn, or as the Second German Republic. During the Cold War, the western portion of Germany and the associated territory of West Berlin were parts of the Western Bloc. West Germany was formed as a political entity during the Allied occupation of Germany after World War II, established from 12 States of Germany, states formed in the three Allied zones of occupation held by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. At the onset of the Cold War, Europe was divided between the Western and Eastern Bloc, Eastern blocs. Germany was divided into the two countries. Initially, West Germany claimed an exclusive mandate for all of Germany, representing itself as the sole democratically reorganised continuation of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Intelligence Agencies
The Government of the United Kingdom maintains several intelligence agencies that deal with secret intelligence. These agencies are responsible for collecting, analysing and exploiting foreign and domestic intelligence, providing military intelligence, performing espionage and counter-espionage. Their intelligence assessments contribute to the conduct of the foreign relations of the United Kingdom, maintaining the national security of the United Kingdom, military planning, public safety, and law enforcement in the United Kingdom. The four main agencies are the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS or MI6), the Security Service (MI5), the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and Defence Intelligence (DI). The agencies are organised under three government departments, the Foreign Office, the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence. Although the history of the organisations dates back to the 19th century or earlier, the British intelligence system as we know it today – with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kim Philby
Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby (1 January 191211 May 1988) was a British intelligence officer and a double agent for the Soviet Union. In 1963, he was revealed to be a member of the Cambridge Five, a spy ring that had divulged British secrets to the Soviets during World War II and in the early stages of the Cold War. Of the five, Philby is believed to have been the most successful in providing secret information to the Soviets. Born in British India, Philby was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was recruited by Soviet intelligence in 1934. After leaving Cambridge, Philby worked as a journalist, covering the Spanish Civil War and the Battle of France. In 1940, he began working for the United Kingdom's Secret Intelligence Service (SIS or MI6). By the end of the Second World War he had become a high-ranking member. In 1949, Philby was appointed first secretary to the British Embassy in Washington and served as chief British liaison with Americ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She had been queen regnant of List of sovereign states headed by Elizabeth II, 32 sovereign states during her lifetime and was the monarch of 15 realms at her death. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days is the List of monarchs in Britain by length of reign, longest of any British monarch, the List of longest-reigning monarchs, second-longest of any sovereign state, and the List of female monarchs, longest of any queen regnant in history. Elizabeth was born in Mayfair, London, during the reign of her paternal grandfather, King George V. She was the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother). Her father acceded to the throne in 1936 upon Abdication of Edward VIII, the abdic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government of the GDR on 13 August 1961. It included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, accompanied by a wide area (later known as the "death strip") that contained anti-vehicle trenches, beds of nails and other defenses. The primary intention for the Wall's construction was to prevent East Germany, East German citizens from Emigration from the Eastern Bloc, fleeing to the West. The Eastern Bloc, Soviet Bloc propaganda portrayed the Wall as protecting its population from "Fascist (insult), fascist elements conspiring to prevent the will of the people" from building a Communism, communist state in the GDR. The authorities officially referred to the Berlin Wall as the ''Anti-Fascist Protection Ram ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inner German Border
The inner German border ( or ''deutsch–deutsche Grenze''; initially also , zonal boundary) was the frontier between the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) and the West Germany, Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany) from 1949 to 1990. ''De jure'' not including the similar but physically separate Berlin Wall, the border was an irregular L-shaped line, long. It ran south from the Baltic Sea and then east to the border of Protection of Czechoslovak borders during the Cold War, Czechoslovakia. It was formally established by the Potsdam Agreement on 1 August 1945 as the boundary between the Allied-occupied Germany, Western and Soviet occupation zones of Germany. On the Eastern side, it was made one of the world's most heavily fortified frontiers, defined by a continuous line of high metal fences and walls, barbed wire, alarms, anti-vehicle ditches, watchtowers, automatic booby traps and minefields. It was patrolled by 50,000 armed GDR borde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Unification
The unification of Germany (, ) was a process of building the first nation-state for Germans with federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without Habsburgs' multi-ethnic Austria or its German-speaking part). It commenced on 18 August 1866 with the adoption of the North German Confederation Treaty establishing the North German Confederation, initially a military alliance ''de facto'' dominated by the Kingdom of Prussia which was subsequently deepened through adoption of the North German Constitution. The process symbolically concluded when most of the south German states joined the North German Confederation with the ceremonial proclamation of the German Empire (German Reich) having 25 member states and led by the Kingdom of Prussia of Hohenzollerns on 18 January 1871; the event was typically celebrated as the date of the German Empire's foundation, although the legally meaningful events relevant to the completion of unification occurred on 1 January 18 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Die Wende
The Peaceful Revolution () – also, in German called ' (, "the turning point") – was one of the peaceful revolutions of 1989 at the peak of the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in the late 1980s. A process of sociopolitical change that led to, among other openings, the opening of their borders to the Western world. These events were precipitated by Solidarity (Polish trade union), Solidarity's peaceful Polish Round Table Agreement, revolution in Poland and enabled by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's decision to abandon intervention in the Soviet sphere of influence and other shifts to the Soviet Union's foreign policy. In East Germany—the former German Democratic Republic (GDR or DDR)—the peaceful revolution marks the end of the ruling by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) in 1989 and the transition to a parliamentary system. This peaceful transition later enabled the German reunification in October 1990. The peaceful revolution was marked by nonviolent initiatives ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West Berlin
West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1990, the territory was claimed by the West Germany, Federal Republic of Germany (FRG or West Germany), despite being entirely surrounded by the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany). The legality of this claim was contested by the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries. However, West Berlin de facto aligned itself politically with the FRG from May 1949 and was thereafter treated as a ''de facto'' city-state of that country. After 1949, it was directly or indirectly represented in the institutions of the FRG, and most of its residents were citizens of the FRG. West Berlin was formally controlled by the Western Allies and entirely surrounded by East Berlin and East Germany. West Berlin had great symbolic signi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Show Trial
A show trial is a public trial in which the guilt (law), guilt or innocence of the defendant has already been determined. The purpose of holding a show trial is to present both accusation and verdict to the public, serving as an example and a deterrence (penology), warning to other would-be dissidents or transgressors. Show trials tend to be retributive justice, retributive rather than correctional justice, corrective, and they are also conducted for propaganda, propagandistic purposes. When aimed at individuals on the basis of protected group, protected classes or characteristics, show trials are examples of political repression, political persecution. The term was first recorded in 1928. A similar concept is the "kangaroo court". China After the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, show trials were given to "rioters and counter-revolutionaries" involved in the protests and the subsequent military massacre. Chinese 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaob ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
