Barriers went up 20 years ago

On Monday, November 9, 1989, East Berliners crossed from east to west. NVA troops at Bornholmer Strasse, Heinrich Heine Strasse, Friedrich Strasse and all the other crossing points in Berlin simply lifted the barriers and the rest is history.

Erich Honecker cast a vote against himself at a plenary session of the Politburo. He later died in South America of Cancer. His story is one of pity and sadness. As a young man he objected to Hitler and paid the price. He was obviously a man of courage and principle, yet for decades he managed and controlled a totalitarian police state.

His wife Margo, once Education Minister in the GDR lives in South America and last week said that many people in the former GDR miss the 'old ways'. This from a woman who shopped on a weekly basis in West Berlin's KDW, a woman who was greatly disliked by the public and by those who worked close to her.

In 1955 Anglela Kasner, now Merkel, moved from Hamburg to Templin in the GDR with her family. Her father was pastor and moved from west to east. Angela was the brightest in her class, studied physics at Leipzig and Berlin. She was particularly good at Russian and was often seen learning her Russian vocabulary waiting at the bus stop for her school bus. She joined the FDJ (Free German Youth) and won a special scholarship for her excellence in the Russian language.

"She was a local leader of the Free German Youth, a Communist youth organisation akin to the Soviet Komsomol. Although Merkel seems reluctant to speak about it these days, she was in charge of agitation and propaganda for the young Communists at the Academy. It was quite an achievement for the pastor's daughter. Merkel earned her masters in physics in 1986.

"It was impossible to be a pastor in the GDR without being in contact with the State Secret Police.

"There were a very few exceptions to the rule. Pastor Kasner became a leading member of the Weissensee Work Group, a “brotherhood of priests” who cooperated with the State authorities. The State Secret Police controlled the activities of the group. The atmosphere in Angela's house was undoubtedly political.

"Later Merkel has repeatedly said that the membership in the Communist youth organisation was a must for those who wanted to study at the university in the GDR. Even if her “agitation and propaganda” stint was a political maneuver, it shows Merkel's ability to adjust to the circumstances. Perhaps her membership in the Communist youth organisation was just a career requirement though she never did anything to challenge the regime of the GDR," Pravda wrote.

Angela Merkel became the first woman to head the German government


In 1985 this writer was stopped at Invaliden Strasse from bringing his bicycle into the East. Have often wondered where that border guard is today. On another occasion in Weimar in 1988, this time on my bike I was stopped by police for going through a red light - did it twice before being stopped. The quick remark was difficult to resist and I told the Volks Polizist that I thought red meant forwards in the GDR. He did not think it funny and took my passport.

At the time I was attending a course and was in the country as a guest of the State so I managed through the university of Weimar to get back my passport but with a fine. In those days people from 'capitalist states' were obliged to change their money at a one to one rate, although the mighty German Mark was equal to 11 GDR Marks on the black market. I had originally changed my money on the black market but so as to get my passport back I had to show proof to the police that I had changed my money 'legally'.

We had a problem, but a solution too. I asked a student on the course from the Soviet Union if she would give me a 'gift' in GDR currency, which she kindly did. It was a nervous few hours. I handed over my GDR currency and thanked my Coviet fellow student.

What would Angela Merkel have thought of it all back then?