There were always discussions about the situation in the GDR. Among colleagues. In the family. I was in the SED until the beginning of ’89. I come from a left-wing family, that’s how I grew up. My father was a communist. He distributed leaflets and did illegal work before 1933. My mum brought me up that way too, and above all she thought that people could only do well under socialism. You get that with your mother’s milk. And in those party group meetings that we had, we always let our hair down. We always said everything. Nobody minced their words. But I don’t think that ever got out of the room we were sitting in. At the beginning of ’89 we had another party meeting and I thought, that’s the end of it, you’re just going to get glommed on anyway. I slammed down my party card and left. We always thought we could achieve something. Today I realise that the reports were embellished and our concerns were never taken to the higher echelons of the party – all these material difficulties, for example. […]

I noticed the first movements in Leipzig with interest. It was spread by word of mouth. A friend of mine always went to the Monday prayers and was on the square when there were the first scuffles with the police. I can’t say how I felt about it. It was exciting and logical. It couldn’t be any other way, something had to happen. We were several photographers at the demos. It was somehow burning under our nails. We were still very inhibited about taking photos, I have to say. I didn’t take any photos at all at the first demo.

At my first demo (after 9 October) there was an eerie silence. When we came round the corner where the green area starts again – there was a woman standing in front of me. And there was a bottle lying on the side of the road and she bent down to pick it up. I thought, she’s not going to throw it at the round corner, at the door. And there were bushes and she put the bottle under them. She was thinking the same thing I was: just don’t make a ruckus. The riot could have broken out. If someone had done something stupid, there would have been something else. There were also police officers around. They were everywhere in the city. There were lots of banners calling for a new GDR. Free elections. You can see that in the photos. I felt the same way. When Schabowski then said that from today there would be freedom to travel, I thought: Good. So things are taking their course. Historically, Germany now belongs together again.

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->