Jürgen S.
57 Jahre
Kleinmachnow

I wasn’t among those in the GDR who actively protested, sometimes incurring the severest punishments. I had two children and could not be so brave. But I didn’t suck up to the state either.
As an 18 year old high school graduate I was drafted for military service in the NPA (National People’s Army). There, I was placed under “curfew” for six months, which is why later I wasn’t allowed to study. Instead, they recommended the “probation in socialist production” (a disciplinary measure usually involving normal levels of physical work). I worked for several years in VEB Geräte- und Reglerwerke Berlin-Teltow (a state owned enterprise). It was only later that I was allowed to do a degree in electrical engineering.
After the wall fell my job situation was up in the air. I started looking for work in West-Berlin. At the time however, West German companies didn’t want to employ people with GDR passports. I realized that I had to become a citizen of the Federal Republic! In February 1990, I registered as a “refugee” at the refugee transit camp in Marienfelde. Berlin was already overcrowded so I was sent to Friedland, the border transit camp in Lower Saxony. From there I was transferred to a barrack 600 kilometers away in Wittmund in East Frisia. After four days there I finally got a provisional passport of the Federal Republic of Germany.
I used the Begrüßungsgeld (welcome money), the 100 DM, to pay for my passport, to call home and to buy a bus ticket from East Frisia back to Berlin. Although I continued to live with my family in Potsdam I was finally a citizen of the Federal Republic of Germany and could register my residence in the West. Three weeks later I promptly got a permanent position at the Deutsche Telefonwerke (DeTeWe) in Kreuzberg!
My “confortable escape” had been worth it! I had a job and I was paid by West German standards while many East Germans were struggling to overcome the setbacks to their careers. Today I am happily retired and a member of the non-profit organization “Friendship Force”, which organizes international meetings. I also regularly do aikido, which gives me a lot of pleasure!