‘Behind the Wall’ tells the story of four men and women with Irish connections who lived behind the Berlin Wall. It is also an investigation into what it was like to live in one of the most guarded and restrictive countries in the world.

Behind the Wall was originally broadcast on Newstalk in November 2014.

In an unprecedented move, the East German authorities opened the border between East and West Germany on November 9th 1989. What they envisaged was the broadening of the travel rights of their citizens. What resulted was a different story: a deluge of people descended on the Berlin Wall and celebrated a new freedom, after 28 years of isolation.

‘Behind the Wall’ explores the very fabric of life in an extraordinary society while attempting to understand what drew people from Ireland to East Germany and vice versa.

CREDITS: ‘Behind the Wall’ was written, produced and edited by Simon Tierney.