Historian Katja Hoyer looks past outdated conceptions and toward a more comprehensive history, that acknowledges border guards, secret police and brutal repression, as well as comprehensive welfare, unprecedented gender equality and the deconstruction of class privilege. There were those who were silenced, and those who had been given a voice for the first time. Both deserve to be heard today. A full colour history of the GDR from an acclaimed young historian who grew up there.