Repeated Attempts of a Life, Part 2

This is color photograph version of Part Two of Wolfgang Hartmann's autobiography, Repeated Attempts of a Life. In Part 1 Hartmann detailed his childhood, adoption, and career as an East German research scientist. Life in the East German surveillance state was difficult and came to a head when Wolfgang staged a public protest because he was denied permission to visit his dying mother in the West. This protest for his basic human rights led to his imprisonment under harsh working conditions and protracted solitary confinement. In this second part Wolfgang describes in detail the events leading up to his release to the West, The excitement of being finally released, the details of how such transfers to the West were made and the trip itself are wonderful reading. Assimilation to the West was not only a culture shock, however, as the East German government also used the transfer mechanisms to rid itself of prisoners who they no longer wished to care for, making living conditions for the newly arrived problematic and relations with the surrounding community difficult. Wolfgang also faced difficulties in terms of reunion with his biological family and the difficult academic and career prospects he faced as an older individual. On the plus side, however, Wolfgang now learned of the full extent of others' efforts in the West to secure his release.Happily, Wolfgang received an offer of employment from SAS Institute, a very large statistical software company in Cary, North Carolina. His description of his employment provides a cameo of an exciting period in the startup of one of the largest privately held software companies. During these years, however, Wolfgang also describes the break-up with his wife but his eventual success in love in North Carolina.With the reunification of Germany, there is the temptation to think that everyone "lived happily ever after," that East German citizens quickly adjusted to life in reunified Germany, and that the truth and reconciliation processes conducted in the aftermath of reunification have set the historical record straight. Wolfgang's description of this period in German history, however, reveals that the true picture is much more complex and indeterminate. On one hand, the sudden freedom of travel provided Wolfgang with some amusing stories of how his acquaintances viewed their new country and new places such as the US. In contrast, though, adjustment to the new realities of German society was quite difficult for some and not all facts of the former regime were brought to light. Documents were destroyed and, in some cases, oppressors sometimes drafted new identities for themselves as the oppressed.As with Part One of his autobiography, Wolfgang's account is rich with documentation and pictures of his life during this time and he closes with the final accounts of many of the individuals introduced in Part One.