DAVID EDGERLEY GATES writes thrillers, spy stories and
‘noir’ westerns.
He tells me a favourite of his own works is BLACK TRAFFIC,
first in a series of ‘Cold War’ books. The setting is 1960s Berlin, where an
American and a Russian intelligence operative form an unlikely alliance to
solve a couple of murders, whilst delving into the murky world of spies, drug
runners and contract killers.
I plundered Wikipedia for the following:
The Berlin Wall was a guarded
concrete barrier that physically and ideologically
divided Berlin from
1961 to 1989. Constructed by the German Democratic Republic (aka the GDR or East Germany),
starting on 13 August 1961, the Wall cut off (by land) West Berlin from
surrounding East Germany, including East Berlin.
The barrier included guard towers placed along large
concrete walls, accompanied by a wide area (later known as the 'death strip') that contained anti-vehicle trenches and other defenses. The Eastern Bloc portrayed
the Wall as protecting its population from fascist elements
conspiring to prevent the 'will of the people' in building a socialist
state in East Germany.
The West Berlin city government sometimes referred
to it as the 'Wall of Shame', a term coined by
mayor Willy Brandt in reference to the Wall's restriction
on freedom of movement. Along with the border
between East and West Germany, it came to symbolize physically
the 'Iron Curtain' that separated Western
Europe and the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War.
During this period over 100,000 people
attempted to escape and over 5,000 people succeeded in escaping over the Wall,
with an estimated death toll ranging from 136 to more than 200 in
and around Berlin.
Political leaders across the world
railed against the division and oppression the wall represented.
On 26 June 1963 U.S. President John F. Kennedy visited West Berlin. Speaking before an audience of 450,000 he declared 'Two thousand years ago, the proudest boast was … "I am a Roman citizen". Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is "Ich bin ein Berliner!"... All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner!"' (Which does mean ‘I am a Berliner’ despite misinformation to the contrary.)
On 26 June 1963 U.S. President John F. Kennedy visited West Berlin. Speaking before an audience of 450,000 he declared 'Two thousand years ago, the proudest boast was … "I am a Roman citizen". Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is "Ich bin ein Berliner!"... All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner!"' (Which does mean ‘I am a Berliner’ despite misinformation to the contrary.)
In a speech at the Brandenburg Gate on
12 June 1987, U. S. President Ronald Reagan challenged Mikhail Gorbachev,
leader of the Soviet Union, with: ‘Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this Wall!’
Presidents Reagan and Kennedy
Indirectly, Gorbachev complied.
Mikhail Gorbachev
In 1989 a series of revolutions in nearby Eastern
Bloc countries—Poland and Hungary in particular—caused a chain
reaction in East Germany that ultimately resulted in the demise of the Wall. After
several weeks of civil unrest, the East German government announced on 9
November 1989 that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin. The
Wall was officially opened, therefore it was no longer a wall.
Crowds of East Germans crossed and climbed onto the
Wall, joined by West Germans on the other side in a celebratory atmosphere.
Over the next few weeks, euphoric people and souvenir hunters chipped away
parts of the Wall. The 'fall of the Berlin Wall' paved the way
for German reunification, which formally took
place on 3 October 1990.
The Wall falls 1989
Demolition of the wall officially began on 13 June
1990 and finished in 1992.
I thought of movies with a similar 1960s Berlin/ Cold
War backcloth to BLACK
TRAFFIC, like ‘The Spy who
came in from the Cold,’
Richard Burton in ‘The
Spy who came in from the Cold (1965)’
Funeral
in Berlin,
Michael Caine in
‘Funeral in Berlin (1966)’
and ‘The Quiller
Memorandum.’
Senta Berger and George Segal in ‘The Quiller Memorandum (1966)’
I don’t normally put myself in these blogs but I couldn’t resist this: I
visited Berlin in 2017. Here are my feet (literally) across the wall, or at
least where the wall used to be.
REVIEWS of BLACK
TRAFFIC:
‘I like nothing better than a ripping good tale of espionage… David
Edgerly Gates delivers in full… He is a master at his craft.’
‘Black Traffic is the BEST Cold War novel I've read in a long time.’
‘A thrilling read.’
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