In autumn 1989, I was living in Leipzig. I was 43 years old, a single mother of two daughters (16 and 18) and worked as a project engineer. I didn’t care much about politics because I thought it was pointless anyway. I also had a pretty time-consuming hobby at the time: I was a singer in a dance music band and travelled almost every weekend. Of course, I followed the unrest in the country on West German television and knew about the Monday demonstrations in Leipzig, but I hadn’t taken part in any of them yet.

On Saturday, 7 October 1989, I was playing with my band to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the GDR in what was then the “Burgkeller” in Grimmaische Straße (now “Alex”) in the evening. Suddenly, in the middle of a song, we heard increasingly loud noises from outside. It sounded menacing, and as we ran outside we saw a parade of combat groups in full armour with helmets and shields, beating their shields with rubber truncheons to the beat. This demonstration of the omnipotence of the state to intimidate the revolting masses was simply frightening. We were unmistakably sent back to the dance hall and told to carry on playing.

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->