Chapters (60)

‘I’m not sure I’d say it’s a hot date. A very lukewarm one as far as I’m concerned. It’s one of the bus drivers in Sonnenstein. I think he’s always had his eye on me. Mind you, he’s got a bit of a roving eye, full stop.’

I don’t mention it’s the same driver who picked me up the night the man died in the concrete in Gorbitz.

As Major Bahlow says, that’s best all forgotten.

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Glossary

Glossary

Armeegeneral	Army general
Autobahn	Motorway
Bezirk	District or region
BRD	Bundesrepublik Deutschland (West Germany)
DDR	Deutsche Demokratische Republik (East Germany)
Eingaben	Petitions. Any DDR citizen could submit these to the government
Eisbein	Salted pork knuckle
Erbsenbrei	Mushy peas
Generalmajor	Major general
Glück Auf	The traditional German miners’ greeting, loosely translated as ‘Good Luck!’
Ha-Neu	Nickname for the East German new town of Halle-Neustadt
Hauptmann	Captain
Hauptstadt	Capital city (in this book, East Berlin)
HO	Handelsorganisation. National state retail organisation administering restaurants, department stores etc.
Interhotel	East German chain of luxury hotels
Keibelstraße	Headquarters of the People’s Police in East Berlin
Kinder und Jugendsportschule	Special elite sports school for children and youths
Kriminaltechniker	Forensic officer
Kripo	Kriminalpolizei or the K. The criminal investigation wing of the People’s Police
Kulti	Palace of Culture
Liebling	Term of endearment, akin to ‘darling’
Major	The same rank as in English, but pronounced more like my-yor
Makarov	Semi-automatic pistol used by the army and police in the Soviet bloc
Ministry for State Security (MfS)	The East German secret police, abbreviated to MfS from the German initials, and colloquially known as the Stasi – a contraction of the German name
Mit Luftpost	Airmail
Muttilein	Mother (or Mutti for short)
Normannenstraße	Stasi headquarters in East Berlin
Oberleutnant	First lieutenant
Oberst	Colonel
Oberstleutnant	Lieutenant-Colonel
Oma	Gran
Opa	Grandad
People’s Police	The regular East German state police (see also Volkspolizei)
Personenaufzug	Passenger lift
Plattenbauten	Concrete slab apartment blocks
Polizeiruf 110	DDR police TV drama (‘Police Call 110’); 110 was the equivalent of 999
Republikflüchtlinge	People who attempted to escape to the west
Sauerkraut	Fermented chopped cabbage
Scheisse	Shit
Schwebebahn	Dresden’s historic suspension railway
Schwedenbecher	Swedish ice-cream sundae, a popular dessert in East Germany
Standseilbahn	Dresden’s historic hill tram
Stasi	Nickname for the Ministry for State Security (MfS), the DDR’s secret police (see above)
Unterleutnant	Sub-lieutenant
Vati	Dad
Volkspolizei	The DDR’s state police (or People’s Police, see above). Known as Vopos
Wartburg	East German car model, a step up from the Trabant
Wohnkomplexe	Housing estate
Zersetzung	Psychological manipulation technique used by the Stasi to undermine suspects

Author’s Note

Author’s Note

This novel is a work of fiction but the wartime scenes are inspired by real events.