A Bookstore In East Berlin

December, 1989

I spent the summer of 1956 in Europe. I was a college sophomore, it was my first time out of the U.S.A. and I had a ball. I rented a car and drove through France, Spain and Italy. Life seemed a continuous joy ride. But then things got serious.Passing through Munich, I fell in with a crowd of East German refugees. They were charming and shrewd people, elegant in their habits and tastes. They also had plans for me. At their urging, I agreed to become an amateur spy and go deep inside East Germany...