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

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It helps you thrive from the inside out!': Meet the women who say this supplement is the secret to feeling fabulous in their 50s and 60s I had first read about this anthology in a 2006 article in the news magazine Der Spiegel, where it was fleetingly mentioned in a review of the film The Lives of Others. Germany’s legendary secret police had over several decades run a secret programme in which it tried to train its spies in the refined art of verse. What an absurd meeting of mindsets, I thought at the time: one of the most brutal spy agencies in history on the one hand, the refined craft of lyrical verse on the other. What had attracted one to the other?

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.What I find both beguiling and strange about books like this is that it is set in a country that no longer exists and in a culture that has disappeared. Not all of the poems were sufficiently confessional: some of the aspiring poets had a disconcerting habit of disguising rather than revealing their true feelings. One sergeant-major, though “undoubtedly talented”, was worryingly “cool, sceptical, self-controlled”. “The thing to get to the bottom of,” Berger wrote in his report, “would be to find out what is really behind the mask, at the bottom of his soul.” Gisele Bundchen showcases her toned tummy as she and rumored boyfriend Joaquim Valente enjoy Costa Rica getaway with her children G Flip reveals how they charmed Selling Sunset star wife Chrishell Stause - after announcing exciting baby plans Ariana Madix arrives at Dancing With The Stars rehearsals clutching a pain killer bottle with boyfriend Daniel Wai by her side as she continues to dominate

Christina Aguilera gets rained out in Melbourne as the American superstar belts out her mega hits at Always Live festival Napoleon was six years younger than Josephine - so why are they played by Joaquin Phoenix, 49, and Vanessa Kirby, 35? James Middleton pushes his newborn son Inigo in his pram as he and wife Alizee Thevenet are spotted Christmas shoppingThe 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. Mad Men star Alison Brie and The White Lotus hunk Jake Lacy enjoy an animated chat on the Gold Coast while filming Apples Never Fall The extraordinary true story of the Stasi’s poetry club: Stasiland and The Lives of Others crossed with Dead Poets Society .

But no one could trust anyone else in that terrifying society. Oltermann discovers that for two decades before becoming leader of the poetry circle, Berger had been an enthusiastic Stasi informer. The much-loved labrador that sniffed out her owner's breast cancer, saving her life and inspiring a new charity that's gone on to save countless moreJames Martin makes a public appearance at BBC Good Food Show weeks after announcing career break amid cancer battle From luxury skincare to must-have make-up collections - get Christmas all wrapped up with dream gifts they'll love Berger was also a snitch – one of the 620,000 informers on the Stasi’s books. When he wasn’t grassing on friends and neighbours (“an alcoholic”, “a bit senile”, “unstable”), he was sniffing out counter-revolutionary tendencies in the workshop he ran. As the Stasi’s institutionalised paranoia increased in the 1980s, so Berger became more vigilant. Ambiguity worried him. What was the poet hiding? Could he be an insurrectionist in the making? Over a period of 12 years, the poet without party membership had proved himself to be one of the most productive informants on East Germany’s literary scene. Berger borrowed friends’ unpublished manuscripts to report on their political leanings, or just to comment on them “being a bit senile”. He informed the Stasi which of his literary colleagues was suspected of having an affair with whom, which jokes they told and which western TV programmes they allowed their children to watch (a Tarzan film merited particular disapproval). Strictly star Layton Williams defends his pole dance routine after viewers compared it to a 'strip club' show