This weekend course, conducted in German, is designed for those who can already speak some German, but who wish to gain more confidence in their use of the language. The level of linguistic competence expected is a B1 according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Through the medium of short non-fictional and literary texts, as well as audio-visual materials we will explore the GDR’s colourful History, its politics, its repression through the STASI, but also its everyday life, its culture and art, the dogged protests which finally led to the fall of the Berlin wall. We will also examine how East Germans fare in the reunified Germany and such phenomena as ‘Ostalgie’ and ‘Dritte Generation Ostdeutschland’.