Volume > Issue > Only Yesterday: Remembering East Germany

Only Yesterday: Remembering East Germany

GUEST COLUMN

By Nancy O. McAdams | March 1990
Nancy O. McAdams is a substitute teacher in the public schools of Princeton, New Jersey.

 

“You want to search my box of Pampers?” I exclaimed.

I couldn’t believe I’d heard the border guard at Checkpoint Charlie correctly. And why was she eying me so suspiciously?

Yet, of course, in April 1988 it was East German security policy to examine all incom­ing vehicles in the search for drugs, books, tapes — anything that might corrupt or con­taminate the East German citizenry.

The guard removed the Pampers box from my car and examined it with a mechanical de­vice. She then selected one of several bags in my trunk to inspect, plus the glove compart­ment in the car, before she felt satisfied I was not transporting any illegal material into East Berlin.

Enjoyed reading this?

READ MORE! REGISTER TODAY

SUBSCRIBE

You May Also Enjoy

The Content of Their Character — Forty Years Later

We have dropped the word "character" from our thinking. We can no longer fully grasp what Dr. King meant, so it's no wonder we haven't taken his advice.

Letter to the Editor: November 2003

Leon Suprenant's Drop-Dead Understanding of Obedience ... Our Fiddling Bishops... More Than "Strongest"... Caught Red-Handed... An Anglican View of The Eucharist... Mass Confusion... The Apostate Episcopal Church...

'God Plays Piano, Too'

Besides everything else going on in crea­tion, does God play piano, too? This question was…