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Crossing the River: A Memoir of the American Left, the Cold War, and Life in East Germany

Average customer rating:

A Unique Account of an Escape To The GDR
An excellent and objective read
Fills a historical void

Crossing the River: A Memoir of the American Left, the Cold War, and Life in East Germany
Victor Grossman
Manufacturer: University of Massachusetts Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1558493859

Book Description

What could possibly impel a relatively privileged twenty-four-year-old American—serving in the U.S. Army in Germany in 1952—to swim across the Danube River to what was then referred to as the Soviet Zone? How are we to understand his decision to forsake the land of his birth and build a new life in the still young German Democratic Republic? These are the questions at the core of this memoir by Victor Grossman, who was born Stephen Wechsler but changed his name after defecting to the GDR.

A child of the Depression, Grossman witnessed firsthand the dislocations wrought by the collapse of the U.S. economy during the 1930s. Widespread unemployment and poverty, CIO sit-down strikes, and the fight to save Republican Spain from fascism—all made an indelible impression as he grew up in an environment that nurtured a commitment to left-wing causes. He continued his involvement with communist activities as a student at Harvard in the late 1940s and after graduation, when he took jobs in two factories in Buffalo, New York, and tried to organize their workers.

Fleeing McCarthyite America and potential prosecution, Grossman worked in the GDR with other Western defectors and eventually became, as he notes, the "only person in the world to attend Harvard and Karl Marx universities." Later, he was able to establish himself as a freelance journalist, lecturer, and author. Traveling throughout East Germany, he evaluated the failures as well as the successes of the GDR's "socialist experiment." He also recorded his experiences, observations, and judgments of life in East Berlin after reunification, which failed to bring about the post-Communist paradise so many had expected.

Written with humor as well as candor, "Crossing the River" provides a rare look at the Cold War from the other side of the ideological divide.

Mark Solomon, a distinguished historian of the American left, provides a historical afterword that places Grossman's experiences in a larger Cold War context.

Customer Reviews:

A Unique Account of an Escape To The GDR.......2005-03-06

Between the end of World War II and the erection of the Berlin Wall, millions of eastern Germans escaped to what was, or would become, West Germany. There was a lot less traffic in the other direction. This is the story of one man who fled the West and wound up "behind the Iron Curtain" in East Germany. American-born Victor Grossman (né Stephen Wechsler) was literally a card-carrying Communist until he was drafted into the US Army -- a fact he did not disclose on a form asking whether he had ever belonged to any subversive organizations. In 1952, as an American soldier stationed in West Germany, Grossman received a letter requiring him to answer charges that he had lied under oath. Instead, Grossman went to then-occupied Austria and swam across the Danube into the Soviet zone. After being detained by Soviet intelligence, Grossman was given a new life and identity in the "German Democratic Republic."

Grossman was, is and remains a true believer in Communism. Grossman tells us that he got a thrill when he saw his first Soviet soldier, with the red star on his hat. Grossman justifies the building of the Berlin Wall and minimizes the wrongs of the Stasi, who except for dissidents were "unpleasant but less frightening than now portrayed." The book is written from a Communist perspective, which again and again minimizes the wrongs of the GDR and magnifies the wrongs of the United States. Yet, Grossman's argument that German communism did not necessarily preclude democracy collapses upon closer examination. A big problem for the GDR is that it had to live cheek by jowl with a free-market economy. If, as Grossman claims, the Berlin Wall was necessary to prevent GDR-educated professionals from fleeing and GDR-subsidized goods from being sold in West Germany at higher prices, then the GDR would have to remain a closed state to function. And that meant that GDR residents would not have the ultimate freedom to "vote with their feet" and leave. Grossman voluntarily chose to live under communism -- other East Germans did not have that choice. Their "revolution," such as it was, was imposed by the Soviet Union.

Nonetheless, even someone like me, whose political views are 180 degrees opposite from Grossman's, found the book engaging. One reason is that Grossman's story is so unusual. Very few American servicemen fled to East Germany and fewer probably met or interacted with as wide a range of people, including foreign celebrities like Jane Fonda. Additionally, there are very few memoirs written by Communists who came of age in the 1940s: most are written by those from the "popular front" era of the 1930s or the New Left of the 1960s. This book takes the reader to factory life in Buffalo, concerts by Paul Robeson and Pete Seeger, and all over the GDR. And the book is well-written: Grossman makes the most persuasive case possible for the benefits of his adopted country.

My personal opinion is this: As an American, I'm frankly glad that Victor Grossman left the country. Anyone who dislikes the American system as much as he does, and goes AWOL from the US Army to East Germany at the height of the Cold War, should live elsewhere. As a reader, however, I'm glad to have been able to read his book. While the author's views are (in my opinion) wrongheaded, the book never fails to be fascinating.

An excellent and objective read.......2003-12-11

This is an excellent and unique work. It will not bore you in the least bit. Grossman presents a very human and objective picture of life in the first German socialist state. This is a very informative and interesting account and should be read not only by those interested in the GDR, but also by those interested in history in general, and those who enjoy a fascinating story. This work paints a very different picture of the GDR than the usual Western "totalitarian nightmare" type books. Highly reccomended.

Fills a historical void.......2003-08-31

This engrossing autobiography relates, first hand, what happened post WWII with the diehard leftists in the eastern blocs when their dreams of socialism came crushing down around them .

The author fled his native USA while in the army and swam the Danube to seek a better world.

An honest insight that has not previously been told.

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