The Berlin wall was a staple of 60's Spy culture. The poignant opening and close of John le Carre's famous novella "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold," "A Funeral in Berlin," the original Casino Royale. Pieces of it are in museums around the world and millions watched it be taken down. We know it existed and it is taken for granted that people tried to cross it and some died in the attempt. Who exactly they were is usually left to the imagination. Greg Mitchell has remedied this with his book "The Tunnels"- a satisfying read which will appeal to anyone who likes a good story, and contains some case-studies we can learn from for today. In it he presents two wildly different stories which intersect: one a nitty-gritty story of escape and evasion that would put Paul Brickhill to shame, the other a Newsroom-style drama of the press assembling a documentary about the latter and fighting to get it aired. Between the two, there is never a dull moment in the book. If you're a "page around" reader like me you'll quickly get hooked on what you open up to. The many characters and their experiences are brought to life vividly (and I might add, authentically, without the aid of faux dialogue.)
The first story focuses on the tumultuous 3 year period following the decision by the Soviets to construct the wall to stem the exodus of Berliners from their zone into the US-controlled zone. Ordinary citizens, mostly seeking to be reunited with family, worked their way around this, primarily by tunneling, a craft which they are forced to learn quickly by trial and error. "It was like grave digging except you had to excavate horizontally, for days, and survive in the musty chill long after light and air began to dissappear. Soon one couldn't toil for more than an hour before feeling faint for lack of oxygen. Some of the men suffered from fever and hacking coughs." Over time air, lighting, and even phone systems are incorporated as well as simple-yet-effective tradecraft to escape detection. So many worthy people figure in the narrative it seems unfair to single out an example for a review. One of the main characters is Harry Seidel, a cycling champion living in the west who tunnels east with the aim of rescuing his mother- rescuing many others in the process. Harry is a likable hero and his story carries much of the story, but his is just one of many cliques of tunnellers which figure in the book.
The second story revolves around an NBC news team which captures the underground drama for a documentary. They embed with a group building a tunnel from the west into the east and not only finance the tunnel but capture footage of escapes as they happen. It is a chance for "history in the making, cinema verite, danger and every turn, day after day, happening right in front of the camera's eye- one might call it something new for TV..." They battle rival networks, dangerous shooting conditions, the threat of discovery by the East German Police (whose double agents have already infiltrated some tunnel groups), and, most dangerous of all, opposition from their own government. From the White House, nuclear war looks like a frighteningly real prospect, as Kennedy and his aides weigh how to oppose the Soviets without provoking them. Berlin has an ingredient missing in other confrontations: "Berlin was not only the political flash point of the cold war, it was...one of the few arenas where the United States and USSR came into direct one-on-one conflict." The administration looks to find a way to make the media operate in sync with their concerns about global tensions so as not to spark "the" incident which may prove the tipping point. (Soviet spy Rudolph Abel once commented that he had little need for undercover work in America as so much was readily available in newspapers and published reports). They agree it is in the interest of the common good to prevent a potentially inflammatory documentary from being shown. It takes a great deal of influence from some of the best reporters of the day to prevent the project from being killed.
The author's background as a journalist himself shines through, both in his easy-to read writing style and his approach. He avoids taking sides or inserting his own opinions, instead assembling facts and presenting them to the reader, who may draw his own conclusion. It also gives him a leg up when addressing still-relevant issues that surround journalism like the conflict between security and freedom of information.
The text itself gets 5 stars. The jacket description leaves a little to be desired. First, the byline reads "Escapes under the Berlin Wall." That gives the impression of something definitive, like the tunnel equivalent of M. R. D. Foote's "MI9." I was a little disappointed at first to find it was only half devoted to the tunnels (and only during a short period at that). Once realized however, the book was highly enjoyable. Second: the second part of the byline reads "the historic films the JFK white house tried to kill" and on the inside flap has two quotes from Kennedy ("A wall is better than a war" and "we don't care about east berlin") all taken out of context, making the book sound like a revisionist dig at Kennedy rather than the nuanced story Mitchell actually tells.
Looking back we can be grateful that the NBC team took the time to record the escapes. The program won several awards and is available for viewing on youtube. It is haunting in its simplicity and imparts to the viewer a sense they are truly witnessing history.
http://www.gregmitchellauthor.com/bios/greg-mitchell
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
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