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This is What Life was Like in Communist East Germany

Tim Flight December 18, 2019 25 min

Berlin Wall - Checkpoint Charlie — A man peers over the newly-built Berlin Wall in August 1961. The Guardian

34. But GDR scientists (ahem) gave them a little helping hand…

Ines Geipel competing in the 100m in Cologne, 1982. Daily Mail

Many countries didn’t recognize East Germany as a proper country, and they saw sport as a way to change that. But they were so keen to do well they plied athletes with performance-enhancing drugs. Doping, as it’s known, is still a big problem for sport, but rarely is it anything more than individual cheating. Doping in the GDR however was a state-wide imperative, and East Germany’s remarkable success in the Olympics has been attributed to it. Since the 1990s, people have demanded the record books be changed. Many East German athletes have also suffered long-term health problems.

Written by

Tim Flight

I am a freelance historical and literary writer based in West Yorkshire, UK. I read for a funded PhD in English at the University of Oxford (Magdalen College) and graduated in 2016. I am a former lecturer in Medieval English Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London. My publications include peer-reviewed articles in academic publications, and pieces in mainstream magazines such as History Today and Fortean Times. For more information, please see www.drflight.co.uk