The Stasi Poetry Circle: The Creative Writing Class that Tried to Win the Cold War

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Like his object of study, Oltermann blends poetry and politics in his writing. Chapters are called “Lessons”, with each chapter bearing a title and definition related to writing: persona, dissonance, and broken rhyme among them. The titles correspond to the chapter content, as in Lesson 8: Heroic Poetry, which tells the story of Alexander Ruika, a skilled young poet whose membership in the circle was marked by writing that did not readily adhere to the desire to use verse as an uplifting, transformation force for a downtrodden populace. I'm A Celebrity SPOILER: Tony Bellew gags while downing murky brown drink during gruesome challenge The changing face of Doctor Who and his companions: Your ultimate guide to every Time Lord for the 60th anniversary The Stasi major who ran the informal poetry meet-ups at the Adlershof compound in the late 70s had an inexhaustible appetite for jaunty ditties (“This song is very popular / In our country the GDR” went one), and the poems produced by his students were often similarly lighthearted. Soldiers in their late teens penned love poetry that paid little attention to political debates. One young member of the secret police fantasised in free verse about being kissed by a young maiden who was unaware of his lowly rank, thus elevating him to a “lance corporal of love”. “Patiently I wait”, the lusty teenager wrote, “for my next promotion / at least / to general”. One soldier imagined, in a sestina, writing the words “I love you” into the dark night sky with his searchlight. “An egotist / in love I am”, went another verse. “Want you / to be mine / just mine / and hope never / to be nationalised”. Love poetry could be awkwardly at odds with a state that valued collective ownership over private property. Paris Hilton's special meaning behindnewborn daughter's name London after surprising fans with baby arrival announcementOn the couch: FIVE surprising ways you can use a psychology degree - from clinical and occupational to forensic psychology

By 1984 morale within the Stasi was suffering. The Wall couldn’t keep out western influence. There were stirrings of a peace movement among the young. Even the military preferred Eric Clapton and Steven Spielberg to homegrown music and films. But the leaders of East Germany were old and the country was slower to accept glasnost than the rest of the Soviet bloc. At least the end was bloodless: whereas Nazi Germany went up in flames, in the GDR “there were no burnt bodies, only pulped files”. The 1920s Philosophy's Golden Age https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000q380 Wittgenstein changed his mind, Heidegger revolutionised philosophy (and the German language), and both the Frankfurt School and the Vienna Circle were in full swing. Doctor Who 60th Anniversary: Fans 'obsessed' by show's 'glorious' new opening titles as sci-fi series makes it's epic return: 'The budget is insane!' You can find more episodes of Free Thinking exploring German history and culture including: Florian Huber, Sophie Hardach, Tom Smith and Adam Scovell on New angles on post-war Germany and Austria https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0006sjx

Discussions and talks from the Free Thinking Festival 2019

It sounds interesting but I found the book quite dry. I'm not sure if part of this was because of the language of the time being discussed, the language of the state. There's also a lot of poetry dissection and analysis - I appreciate you can't get away from this when the central topic is the use of poetry as a weapon but I didn't find it the easiest read. I often found myself having to re-read sections multiple times to understand what was being said. Also, the narrative jumps around in time quite a lot which made it disjointed for me, sometimes we're with Oltermann's own investigations and his attempts to get interviews with people. Other times, we're in the timelines of those people as they're living the events. Also, I didn't feel the real impact of all this spying on people's lives, apart from maybe the case of Annegret Gollin, where the consequences of not conforming to type were very real and serious indeed. Demi Moore leaves yoga class after ex Bruce Willis spotted driving around town amid his battle with dementia Sir Rod Stewart flashes the middle finger at the Celtic v Motherwell football match after he is booed byThe Green Brigade

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