In November 1989, I was on a company outing from Weimar to Berlin. In the evening my colleagues and I went to a club in Friedrichshain where the music was suddenly interrupted for “an important message” from the GDR government. It was the press conference at which Günter Schabowski announced the opening of the wall. We looked at each other. We couldn’t belief what we had just heard!
We then took the S-Bahn to the border crossing at Friedrichstrasse. At first, there were only ten people, but then it quickly got crowded. We stood in the front row. We were being pushed from behind and heard others shouting that at Bornholmer Strasse people were already being let through.
I told my colleagues “I am going to the diplomat’s crossing, the Americans, they won’t send anyone back!” No sooner said than done. After the fastest run of my life I was standing at the Lehrter Bahnhof (the final stop in West Berlin and today Berlin’s Central Station). Soon my colleagues also came.
At 12.30 am, November 10, 1989 we stood in front of the ruins of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church on Kurfürstendamm. It was a great night. We were warmly welcomed everywhere and the pubs were full of celebration. That is not something one forgets.
The next day we went back over to the West. Every GDR citizen knew of the so-called Begrüßungsgeld (welcome money). So we lined up and received the blue 100 DM (Deutsche Mark) bill. We bought things we knew our families needed: coffee, tights, cucumbers, tomatoes, cocoa, etc. I also bought bananas for my nephew who was born in August and had never eaten one because you couldn’t get them in the GDR. I needed underwear, which was in short supply in the East, and I also bought a book that was forbidden in the GDR – “5 Days in June” by Stehan Heym about the 1953 workers’ uprising. Along with the material needs I was also hungry for food for thought!
It was a great time, then and afterwards as well. It was shaped by a sense of optimism and hope, not as it is today by envy, accusations and anxiety.