Heike Dornblut

I believe that few people were really keen to change anything in the GDR. Many looked to the West and thought that if we had that, then everything would be fine.

My parents and I only went to the demo when everything was actually already in the bag. The Republicans were very active there at the time, throwing leaflets around. My stepfather thought it was good, and I thought it was terrible. He saw reunification as the only chance for anything to change. But we didn’t talk about it. I was in ninth grade in 1989 and wouldn’t have been able to do my A-levels in the GDR. I wouldn’t have been delegated and I didn’t have an A average. After reunification, everything was open… and from year 10 I went to grammar school. In year 11, I moved out of home to Leipzig. My own personal revolution, so to speak.”

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->