Burned Bridge
by Edith Sheffer · first published 2011
4mentions
2recommended by
2HN commenters
2018–2025first – last mentioned
100% recommend
The building of the Berlin Wall in 1961 shocked the world. Ever since, the image of this impenetrable barrier has been a central symbol of the Cold War. Based on vast research in untapped archival, oral, and private sources, this book reveals the hidden origins of the Iron Curtain, presenting it in a startling new light. Historian Edith Sheffer's in-depth account focuses on the intersection between two sister cities, Sonneberg and Neustadt bei Coburg, Germany's largest divided population outside Berlin. Sheffer demonstrates that as Soviet and American forces occupied each city after the Second
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…mostly regarded as a primary source by modern scholars. "Concise History of the Third Reich" by Wolfgang Benz, "Bloodlands" by Timothy Snyder, "The Unwomanly Face of War" by Svetlana Alexeivich, and "Burned Bridge" by Edith Sheffer are solid scholarly entry points for those of us for whom this more nuanced and even approach is appealing. For those of you who get to visit Berlin, I'd also strongly recommend the…
on “A Man Who Volunteered for Auschwitz (2012)” ↗Another unsolicited recommendation in a similar vein: Edith Sheffer's "Burned Bridge" (https://www.amazon.com/Burned-Bridge-East-Germans-Curtain/dp...). It's similar in that it offers a somewhat unconventional lens to history, this time applied to the Cold War. As Americans, we often…
on “Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?” ↗…FRG is quite nuanced and interesting. The Iron Curtain was more of a cooperative effort, especially early on, and especially outside of Berlin. Worthwhile reading on the subject: https://www.amazon.com/Burned-Bridge-East-Germans-Curtain/dp.... In some ways, the existence of a physical border begat the political and economic division, as much as the other way around!
…imaginary. When you zoom out, it's these little independent assertions of autonomy and appeals to authority that motivate the creation of a border. Super fascinating stuff. [0]: https://www.amazon.com/Burned-Bridge-East-Germans-Curtain/dp... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpson's_paradox
on “The Soviet web: the tale of how the USSR almost invented the internet (2017)” ↗