I considered trying to get the Begrüßungsgeld (welcome money) twice, first with my identity card and then with my passport. I though it could be a way to take a blow at capitalism. But of course that would have been nonsense, because each and every cent would just have circulated back into the economy. Besides, in a sense, we’ve already sold ourselves the first time we collect the money. In any case, it was embarrassing what happened after the Berlin Wall came down. I was ashamed of my compatriots flocking in front of the trucks from which bananas and Coca-Cola were thrown. So I just stuck to the 100 Marks.
I went to Bergmannstrasse in Kreuzberg where there were many shops selling records. I really wanted to have the album “Spike” by Elvis Costello, which had just been released. For 20 marks I bought the CD, took it home and put it in the CD player of the small sound system I had inherited from my father when he died in the summer of 1989. The CD was in the player, but nothing happened. It did not work. At first I thought it must be the player but then it didn’t work at a friend’s either. So I went back to the store to exchange the CD but the seller refused, saying that an exchange was out of the question since he couldn’t know what exactly I had done with it. So, true to the principle: These stupid Ostlers [people from the East] are clueless and with them you can get away with it. That was the first key experience I had in the West. ‘Welcome to capitalism’, I thought. That said, I bought the CD again, but from another store.
