Mosaic Of Fear – Poland & East Germany Before 1989

There are many established theories concerning political quiescence and dissent in Soviet-era eastern Europe. This book--drawing on newly accessible archival data and over one hundred interviews conducted with communists, dissidents, and by-standers in Poland and East Germany--challenges them.

This text draws on archival data and interviews conducted with communists, dissidents and by-standers in Poland and East Germany. Helena Flam grounds the interviews in knowledge of the Soviet systems which evolved in contrasting ways in the two countries. She concludes by placing the research results in a wider context of east European transitions to democracy and post-transition effects, and provides comparative data on repression.