I came to Leipzig in the summer of ’89. Until then, I worked at the lung clinic in Zschadraß, near Colditz. I really wanted to go to Leipzig, that had always been my wish. And I wanted to become a parish nurse. It just so happened that this happened in ’89. I actually wanted to move to Leipzig much earlier, but it wasn’t that easy to get into the city or to move at all. You needed what’s known as a moving-in licence to get a flat. I moved in with a friend. So I was able to provide the authorities with an address and then start working in Leipzig, at the Poliklinik Ost in Reudnitz.

I got straight into the thick of things without realising it. I worked as a community nurse for the first few weeks and it was a special atmosphere. There was no difference between work and home. It was like the atmosphere just before a thunderstorm, when the air is very oppressive and everyone is hoping that something will happen, as soon as possible, and there’s a crash and a bang and afterwards everything is clean and clear. That’s how I felt. But you didn’t know when it would finally happen and, above all, what would happen then, and whether the air would really be clear and you would be free – or whether the storm would ruin everything. This culminated in the most important demonstration on 9 October (I didn’t go to any of the demonstrations beforehand – and none afterwards either). […]

Read more: in „Mother, don’t worry. Everything is fine here. Everyday life from 1989“. Publication of Frauenkultur Leipzig, 2009; 2nd edition in 2021. click here->