Timothy Garton Ash, internationally acclaimed for his reporting on the fall of communism in Central Europe, spoke with Taipei Times senior editor Cheryl Lai yesterday about his life and work. He is the author of a series of award-winning books, including The Polish Revolution: Solidarity, The Uses of Adversity and We the People: The Revolution of '89 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin and Prague.
Garton Ash spoke about his latest book The File: A Personal History (
The File tells of Garton Ash's discovery of the file the East German secret police kept on him when he lived in East Berlin during the early 1980s. It offers an account of Central and Eastern Europe in transition from communism and his personal journey through the "history of the present."
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
TT: The File will likely remind Taiwanese readers of the "White Terror" days not long ago. In this memoir, you describe what it was like to rediscover your younger self through the eyes of the Stasi, the East German Secret Police. The Stasi's file and your diary became two versions of your life. How did you feel when you read the report and how do you feel now?
GA: When I discovered this Stasi file on me, I was excited and frightened, because I wanted to know who informed on me. I wanted to know what was in it. I wondered if my girlfriend at that time also informed on me, and it was also an emotional experience reading the file and visiting the people who had informed on me before. But I felt it was time to close the file. And the best way to close it is to open it.
I mean when you open it, write about it, and read it, you leave that life behind you. If you don't open it, you are haunted by it.
TT: When you opened your file, you also open other peoples' files. What were their reactions?
GA: It depends on what they did. After people get over a disease, it is unpleasant to recall old times. Some people just couldn't remember what they did. Some informants somehow managed to forget that they were informants and denied or were shocked even when they read about our conversations before.
TT: No doubt these files have changed lives. According to your book, 1,145,005 people had applied to see their files by 1996. Of these, nearly 420,000 had already read their files and just over 360,000 had learned with relief -- or perhaps disappointment -- that no file on them could be found. What will people learn from the experiment of looking through the files the secret police kept on them?
GA: If people choose to forget, it will happen again.
TT: Now Germany is facing its worst political crisis since reunification. Kohl's scandal is not yet finished.
GA: When Germany was split during the Cold War, the West Germans thought the East Germans had the problem, but they didn't necessarily have a problem. And suddenly, the West Germans have a problem. And I have to say, not every country has faced corruption like that now exposed in the German government.
TT: Do you think people will remember Kohl as a great politician who unified Germany or as the center of a financial scandal? Does this case fit the formula you advocate to find, record, reflect and then move on?
GA: Well, I think we still haven't passed stage one yet. We don't know what actually happened, but I'm sure they have to do that. But, part of the reflection would be to draw up a balance sheet of what Helmut Kohl achieved. And I would argue that he is still a great man.
TT: So do you think that people will remember Kohl as a great politician for having unified the country and not a corrupt politician?
GA: Yes, I do.
TT: Is that also the reason why you once called Kohl "King Lear?"
GA: Yes.
TT: What's the role of the German media in this case? Do you think the media have played an important role this time in uncovering the scandal?
GA: No. I think the media in every country has the problem of maintaining impartiality in regard to politics. But I think the German media have done a very good job. The scandal will be contained by the government. It should be noted, however, that the scandal was released by the media, not by the government.
TT: Let's take a look at another country which is also in turmoil: Austria. What is your opinion on Austria's situation since the rise of Joerg Haider? What do you think the next step will be?
GA: In Austria, a large part of the population welcomed the Nazis. After 1945, the West allowed Austria to pretend that it was a victim. That way, Austria has always managed to avoid confronting its Nazi past.
TT: What do you think of the EU placing political pressure on the controversial new Austrian government?
GA: In my heart, I think it was good. But in my head, I think it was the right thing done the wrong way.
TT: Let's come back to your book. Some critics have said you are a knee-jerk anti-communist. What's your explanation?
GA: Knee-jerk? As I say in my book, East Germany was a country such as George Orwell wrote about in 1984. What I wrote was my experience. I lived there, I met the people. Knee-jerk?
TT: You live with your wife and two sons in Oxford now. Could you tell us something about your family? What's their response after they learned you were "Romeo" as the Stasi called you.
GA: Fortunately I completed research on my book The File before I met my wife. They find it funny.
TT : Just funny?
GA: My pains haven't stemmed from my family. This book was the most difficult one I have ever written. I had to write it honestly. The moral problem was whether I had the right to expose somebody who had informed on me. Some people might think they informed me out of good motives. It is hard to believe that some would choose to forget such things, but that is how it is. What I say is that everyone must be judged individually.
Timothy Garton Ash will present a seminar entitled "Journalism versus Historical Writing" at the upcoming Taipei International Book Fair on Feb. 16 and will be the speaker at two forums with columnist Ping Lu (
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