Only Yesterday: Remembering East Germany
GUEST COLUMN
“You want to search my box of Pampers?” I exclaimed.
I couldn’t believe I’d heard the border guard at Checkpoint Charlie correctly. And why was she eying me so suspiciously?
Yet, of course, in April 1988 it was East German security policy to examine all incoming vehicles in the search for drugs, books, tapes — anything that might corrupt or contaminate the East German citizenry.
The guard removed the Pampers box from my car and examined it with a mechanical device. She then selected one of several bags in my trunk to inspect, plus the glove compartment in the car, before she felt satisfied I was not transporting any illegal material into East Berlin.
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I first read Graham Greene’s The Heart of the Matter in 1948, when it came…