Back then, I couldn’t understand the hype around the fall of the wall. The first few days were not a very positive experience for me – West Germans were walking through our streets with their cameras, some even sold clothes from the boots of their cars. I had no use for this sales mentality. We East Germans attached more importance to other values, such as solidarity. I do not mourn East Germany, but I do miss its morale. I didn’t think the East Germans would be so taken in by this consumerism. But I was wrong.
I had a dual feeling about Begrüßungsgeld (welcome money). I didn’t pick it up straightaway. It seemed a bit like charity and bribery to me that we should now get the taste for consumption. But I was a single parent and I could really use the money. And I was also a little bit fascinated. So I took the train with my son to the first small town in Bavaria – Ludwigsstadt. There I realised that people in the West put their pants on the same way as we do. The houses were renovated a little bit better, the façades were more colourful, but people chitchatted just as much as we did. I bought a green eye shadow pencil, simply because I needed one. My son got a small toy car. I kept the rest. I still use my eye shadow pencil sometimes, but I don’t wear make-up very often. I lost the original cap and am now using a different one.