Teaching Resource - East Germany and Late Cold War

After George Orwell published his novel in 1949 about a dystopian future world dominated by a totalitarian regime, 1984, many people saw much of what he described come to life in communist regimes. As the year featured in the book title approached, the British Foreign Office took the opportunity to take stock of conditions in communist countries, including East Germany (the German Democratic Republic, G.D.R.). Accordingly, the FCO asked a diplomat at the embassy in East Berlin to address the question: “How Orwellian is the GDR?” Peter M. Foster did just that in a 12-page letter.