There were seven of us in the household. In addition to the three children, there were also the parents-in-law, who I had to look after. It was a very different life. You had to take care of things yourself. Whether it was growing the house or the strawberries or vegetables. Then there was preserving – especially in autumn. So there was a lot of work, so you hardly had time for anything other than work and family. But I never had trouble sleeping. I fell into bed at night and slept. (laughs) That’s different today. Today I sometimes say I could deliver newspapers because the night is sometimes over at 3 o’clock. That never used to happen. I used to sew dresses and skirts and jackets for the little ones myself. We did it all ourselves, including knitting. There wasn’t much time left. You also had your circle of friends.

For me, the call for freedom wasn’t the decisive factor back then. Freedom to be able to travel. Freedom of expression was more important to me. Today, there is freedom. You could travel anywhere. But who can still do it? That’s the same thing: there have always been people who were able to travel in the past and can still do so today. But there will always be some people who have to be very careful with their finances. And perhaps there are even more people today, because I also have the feeling that there is a greater divide between rich and poor that has emerged – also with unemployment. You never used to be unemployed. If you did your job well, you kept your job. All of this had a huge impact on us, also as a family. My husband then became unemployed. That was quite a turning point.

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->