{"product_id":"we-were-the-people","title":"We Were the People","description":"On the night of November 9, 1989, an electrified world watched as the Berlin Wall came down. Communism was dead, the Cold War was over, and freedom was on the rise-or so it seemed. \u003ci\u003eWe Were the Peopl\u003c\/i\u003ee tells the story behind this momentous event. In an extraordinary series of interviews, the key actors in the drama that transformed East Germany speak for themselves, describing what they did, what happened and why, and what it has meant to them. The result is a powerful firsthand account of a rare historical moment, one that reverberates far beyond the toppled wall that once divided Germany and the world.\u003cbr\u003eThe drama \u003ci\u003eWe Were the People\u003c\/i\u003e recreates is remarkable for its richness and complexity. Here are citizens organizing despite threats of bloody crackdowns; party functionaries desperately trying to survive as time-honored political prerogatives crumble beneath their feet; an oppressed people discovering the possibilities of power and freedom, but also the sobering strangeness of new political realities. With their success, East Germans encountered the overpowering might of thie Western neighbor--and stand perplexed before the onslaught of real estate agents, glossy consumer ads, political professionalism--and the discovery that a lifetime of social experience has suddenly lost all usable context. They became, in the words of one participant, a people \"without biography.\"\u003cbr\u003eOver all the recent events and unlikely turns recounted here, one thing remains paramount: the sweep of the initial democratic conception that animated the East German revolution. \u003ci\u003eWe Were the People\u003c\/i\u003e brings this movement to life in all its drama and detail, and vividly recovers a historic moment that altered forever the shape of modern Europe.\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSome Voices of the People\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBÄrbel Bohley\/ \"Mother of the Revolution\"\u003cbr\u003eRainer Eppelmann\/ Protestant Pastor\u003cbr\u003eKlaus Kaden\/ Church Emissary to the Opposition\u003cbr\u003eHans Modrow\/ Former Communist Prime Minister\u003cbr\u003eLudwig Mehlhorn\/ Opposition Theorist\u003cbr\u003eIngrid KÖppe\/ Opposition Representative \u003cbr\u003eFrank Eigenfeld\/ New Forum\u003cbr\u003eHarald Wagner\/ Democracy Now\u003cbr\u003eSebastian Pflugbeil\/ Democratic Strategist\u003cbr\u003eEast German Workers\u003cbr\u003eCornelia Matzke\/ Independent Women's Alliance\u003cbr\u003eAndrÉ Brie\/ Party Vice-Chairman\u003cbr\u003eGerhard Ruden\/ Environmental Activist\u003cbr\u003eWerner Bramke\/ Party Academic\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Duke University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Product","offer_id":57394647957848,"sku":"9780822312949","price":39.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9780822312949.jpg?v=1780049773","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/we-were-the-people","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}