Acknowledgements
I would like to thank all the people who made this book possible – first and foremost the wonderful range of interesting people who willingly shared their life stories with me both in 1993 and more recently. Special thanks go to Jutta Wrase for permission to include a selection of her photographs from the 1980s and to my brother Richard Weedon who created the maps for me.
My thanks go to the transcribers: Isolde Neubert-Köpsel, Chris Müller and Stefanie Klank and to Caroline Joll and Shirley Müller who read and improved the final drafts of the translations.
Most of these interviews were done on two visits to Berlin funded by the Alexander-von-Humboldt Stiftung. I would like to thank the Foundation warmly for their support. Particular thanks go to Professor Birgit Dahlke and to the Humboldt University for facilitating my three-month visit to Berlin in 2016.
I also wish to thank Brill publishers for their patience and support in allowing me to submit the final draft over a year later than intended. This delay followed from a serious brain injury that I sustained in October 2020. Chris Müller helped with the preparation of the final version of the manuscript.
Very special thanks go to my dear friend Dr Isolde Neubert-Köpsel who supported this project enthusiastically from its inception but sadly died in 2016.