Willkommen, bienvenu, welcome. Fremde, étranger, stranger. Glücklich zu sehen, je suis enchanté, happy to see you. Bleibe, restez, stay …
Are you singing along yet to the opening song of Cabaret – the film I first saw when I was 15 and which I think sparked my lifelong fascination with all things Germanic. Anyway on the 2oth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, let’s travel virtually to Berlin with Citylit Berlin and I’ve been reminded of the film because the opening section in the book is entitled “Come to the cabaret …” However, I think we’ll move swiftly on from tales of Weimar excess to something more relevant to today – the section “And the Wall Came Tumbling Down”.
Do you remember that day, 20 years ago? I remember my disbelief. OK, there were chinks in the Iron Curtain when I’d left Germany 6 months previously, but the events of 9.11.1998 were simply incredible. The extract from John Simpson’s Strange Places, Questionable People tells of its almost casual beginning.
Transcript of press conference by Günther Schabowski, East Berlin, 9.11.89.
This will be interesting for you. Today the descision was taken to make it possible for all citizens to leave the country though the official border crossing points. All citizens of the GDR can now be issued with visas for the purposes of travel or visiting relatives in the East.
This order is to take effect at once.
Well, I don’t remember all those thousands standing in an orderly queue for visas when the wall was breached. And it certainly didn’t happen as per Thomas Brussig’s fantasy. (Not telling – you’ll have to get the book!) For some their first steps in the West were anti-climactic, while others such as the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich were inspired to make highly-symbolic gestures.
While most were celebrating their newly found freedom, there was panic in the Stasi headquarters because this was the collapse of “the perfect spy state”. (It has been estimated that one in 6 were informers.)
They shredded the files until the shredders collapsed. Among other shortages in the east, there was a shredder shortage, so they had to send agents out under cover to West Berlin to buy more. (Anna Funder, Stasiland)
Berlin was chosen to receive the Citylit treatment because it’s a city based not on stability but on change. From the early 19th century:
Thousands of little houses in a chaotic spawl, a settlement overflowing its banks in the swampiest spot in Europe. The first splendid buildings were beginning to go up: a cathedral, some palaces,a museum to house the finds from Humboldt’s great expedition.
In a few years, said Eugen, this would be a metropolis like Rome, Paris or St. Petersburg.
Never, said Gauss. Horrible place! (Daniel Kehlmann, Measuring the World)
to the Weltstadt it is today. Robert Harris even describes the Weltstadt it might have become had Hitler triumphed.
The change continues. Who would have thought that Ostalgie would transform the humble Trabi into the vehicle of choice for a city safari or that the Berlin wall would be sold piecemeal as souvenirs.
In the last 20 years Germany has been coming to terms with its second 20th-century dictatorship and individuals with their own actions. In her 2004 Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction winning Stasiland, Anna Funder explores how both former resisters and Stasi-informers have reconciled themselves (or not) with their pasts. Tim Garton-Ash’s The File describes what happened when he read the dossier the Stasi had compiled on him and confronted his informers. If this subject is of interest to you, I have a copy of each to giveaway. Open worldwide. Just leave a comment (preferably in German!) stating which book/books you’d like to receive and the draw will take place next Monday.
I’m too young to remember my (German) nanna crying with happiness. The footage on the news has been quite moving.
I’d be interested to read either of books, so please enter me in your giveaway, thanks.
Sorry copy and paste mistake I meant to say I am too young to remember the Wall coming down myself but do remember my nan being delighted!
Viele Grüße aus Norddeutschland. Schon seit Tagen sind die Medien voller Berichte über die DDR, den Mauerfall, die letzten 20 Jahre… und nicht nur hier: zu meiner Überraschung habe ich auch im Radioprogramm der BBC einige wunderbare Reportagen gefunden.
Ich selber habe, als 24-jährige, keine Erinnerungen an den großen Tag oder an das geteilte Deutschland. Nur viele meiner Zeichnungen aus dieser Zeit zeigen, wie omnipräsent das Thema war: auf zig Bilder stehen sehr krakelig die Buchstaben: D-D-R …
Ein toller Blog übrigens! Und falls die Frist noch nicht abgelaufen ist: Iwould love to enter the prize draw for the Ash.
Again… greetings from the north of Germany (Oldenburg),
Fran
(Let me freely translate for the benefits of the English speaking readers.)
“Greetings from North Germany. The media here been reporting on the DDR, the fall of the wall and the last 20 years for days now. But to my surprise I have also heard some wonderful reporting on BBC radio. I’m 24 and have no memories of the big day or even of divided Germany. However 3 wobbly characters – DDR – keep cropping up in my drawings from that time – which shows how omnipresent the subject was.
A fab blog by the way! And just in case the deadline has not passed, I would love …..”
Thanks, Fran. A little German practice has made my day!
Ach toll! Na so ein toll’n Wettbewerb. Ich interessiere mich ja sehr für Funders ‘Stasiland’. Falls es noch nicht zu spät sei.
Und ich kann mich sehr wohl an dem Tag vor zwanzig Jahren erinnern, aber erst jetzt kann ich die Wichtigkeit des Tages und dessen Ereignissen verstehen. Damals war ich ja eine blauäugige Sechszehnjährige, die keine Ahnung von Geschichte hatte.
Liebe Grüsse aus Crawley.
Jen P
(Fan aus Ex-München)
Sorry, forgot the translation:
Oh great! Such as great competition. I;m interested in Funder’s ‘Stasiland’, if it’s not too late.
I remember that day 20 years ago really well, but only now can I understand the importance of that day and its events. Back then I was a naive 16-year old, with no concept of history.
Greetings from Crawley.
Jen P
(UK Fan formerly living in Munich)
PS: Foto vom George Best – auch super.
Jen, you left Munich?
For clarification,seeing as my instructions are unclear, the deadline for giveaway entries is Monday 16.11.2009 18:00. (Giving me time to get home from work, etc.)
By the way, comments in German aren’t compulsory – they just make me smile!
Sorry but my german is not good enough. Going to Berlin on friday though, so I’ll have the opportunity to practice! 🙂
I’m interested in both books…..so IF I should win it doesn’t matter which one. Both sounds very, very interesting!!
Giveaway now closed.