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Tunnel 29
Tunnel 29: Love, Espionage and Betrayal: the True Story of an Extraordinary Escape Beneath the Berlin Wall | Helena Merriman
3 posts | 2 read | 7 to read
Acclaim for the TUNNEL 29 podcast:'Combining the fun of a thriller that we know will end happily with grim perspective on history and tyranny... stunning' New Yorker'Reminiscent of a savvy Netflix block buster series' Evening Standard'A truly exciting yarn... creates a sense for the listener of being right there in the tunnel, experiencing the dangers.' Observer-------------------------It's August, 1962, and Joachim Rudolph is digging a tunnel under the Berlin Wall. But he isn't tunnelling out of the East. He's tunnelling in from the West to help dozens of people escape from East Germany. Inspired by award-winning BBC journalist Helena Merriman's research for her acclaimed BBC podcast, Tunnel 29 is the true story of the most remarkable escape tunnel dug under the Berlin Wall - as told through the voices of the people involved. Hundreds of hours of in-depth interviews with surviving participants and thousands of pages of Stasi documents have given Helena Merriman not only fresh information, but also new insights into the escapers and their extraordinary plan.For the first time she is able reveal the identity of an informant who infiltrated the tunnellers. While husbands, wives and children start to crawl through the wet, cold darkness beneath Berlin's notorious 'Death Strip', the Stasi are mounting an operation to stop the escape going ahead - and kill or capture everyone involved. Helena Merriman brilliantly and chillingly portrays the mounting tension as Joachim Rudolph and his team wait for those terrified escapers - people who are willing to risk everything to gain the freedom the East denies them...
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Amiable
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My NONFICTION bracket was a tough one because I read some really good nonfiction in August. My top pick was the tagged book about a group of students who dug a tunnel under the Berlin Wall from West to East Berlin to help people escape. It reads like a thriller —and it‘s all true. It almost moved on, but I had to award the slot to July‘s pick because I do so love a good biography where I learn new things about a person.

Texreader Great idea to separate fiction from nonfiction. So hard to compare the two 8mo
Amiable @Texreader I love both genres. So I‘m always reading at least one of each at the same time. At the end of the year, most of my top 10 favorites tend to be nonfiction. 8mo
Texreader @Amiable Same! I‘ll have to try separating them next year. 8mo
48 likes3 comments
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Amiable
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Pickpick

Excellent narrative nonfiction about a group of university students who decide to dig a tunnel under the Berlin Wall from West Berlin into East Berlin in an attempt to help others escape. Reads like a thriller —and it‘s all true. Lots of interesting history about the wall and the Stasi, East Germany‘s secret police.

#Nonfiction2023
Prompt: Running Up That Hill

keithmalek I'm currently reading "The Tunnels" by Greg Mitchell, which is essentially the same thing. 8mo
Amiable @keithmalek It sounds like it is! I think this one is based on the BBC podcast about the tunnels. 8mo
Cuilin Stacked!! Sounds interesting. 8mo
kspenmoll This sounds right up my alley! Stacked! 8mo
UwannaPublishme Great photo! 8mo
71 likes6 stack adds5 comments
review
swynn
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Pickpick

(2021) Expanding on a BBC podcast, this tells the story of a group of students in 1962 who escaped from East Germany, then built a tunnel under the Berlin Wall to help others escape. Its roots as a podcast show in its vivid scene-setting and sharp pacing. It's the sort of nonfic that "reads like a thriller," so if that's your thing ... yeah, mine too.

This was my #DoubleSpin read for June, just under the wire.

charl08 Great podcast! 2y
26 likes1 comment