CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Whoever is in the next cell lets you know where you are by knocking on the wall. One knock means A, two knocks mean B, three C, and so on. You are in the Stasi remand prison in Berlin. You shudder and wrap your arms around yourself. Like everyone else, you’ve heard stories about this place that is a grey blank on the Berlin street plan.
You knock back: thank you. Then you curl up on the plank bed with the blanket tucked tightly round you, as close to the wall and your new friend as you can get.
A couple of minutes later, the guard pulls the bolt back on your cell door, letting it go with a clang. He orders you to change position. Prisoners must sleep on their backs with their arms outside the blankets.
You lie on your back and stare into the overhead light bulb, le
