Year 9: Life in East Germany
Year 9 students have recently been studying life in East Germany under the communist dictator Erich Honecker. During lessons students have read a section of the bestselling book ‘Stasiland’ by Anna Funder, which provides detailed accounts of life behind the iron curtain. Students have enjoyed learning about the surveillance tactics that the Stasi (East German Secret Police) used to spy on their citizens, including buttonhole cameras, secret listening devices and scent jars. Students have also learnt about life in East Berlin at the time of the Berlin Wall, using a fantastic interactive internet resource which can be found here: https://www.the-berlin-wall.com/. For those students who have opted to study GCSE History, this will be vital knowledge when studying Germany 1919-1991. Also, the students who are attending the history trip to Krakow in 2024 will have the opportunity to see what life was like in communist Poland during a visit to Nowa Huta, built in 1949.
Mr Herbert, Curriculum Leader for History
