WEBVTT 00:00:04.099 --> 00:00:12.500 align:middle line:84% How did you experience this democratic change in 1989? 00:00:12.500 --> 00:00:30.160 align:middle line:84% I experienced it very intensively because Lüneburg was so close to the border crossing Lauenburg that Lüneburg was immediately full of visitors from the GDR 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:47.539 align:middle line:84% And my husband and I drove to Lauenburg the next day and experienced and saw this parade of cars that drove across the border to Lüneburg 00:00:47.539 --> 00:01:00.939 align:middle line:84% and in Lauenburg we talked to people who were very emotional, that they finally were allowed to leave the GDR 00:01:00.939 --> 00:01:15.459 align:middle line:84% There were infinitely many family connections on both sides of the border 00:01:15.459 --> 00:01:26.159 align:middle line:84% We really very intensively participated in this joy 00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:34.840 align:middle line:84% What relationship did you have to the former DDR and to the people? 00:01:34.840 --> 00:01:49.079 align:middle line:84% My maternal family comes from Thuringia, my grandfather from Schloßvippach and my grandmother from Neurudelstedt. 00:01:49.079 --> 00:02:01.760 align:middle line:84% My mother, the thirteenth child of the family, was always oppressed that she had never met these places 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:09.759 align:middle line:84% And in 1993 my sister and I gave her a trip to her 80th birthday 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:18.020 align:middle line:84% And she has experienced things that we did not consider possible even as children 00:02:18.020 --> 00:02:26.139 align:middle line:84% she still saw the grave stone of her grandparents in the cemetery of Schloßvippach 00:02:26.139 --> 00:02:34.400 align:middle line:84% she saw a cousin in Neurudelstedt and met her children for the first time 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:40.520 align:middle line:84% because they were so far only in writing connected with each other. 00:02:40.520 --> 00:02:46.500 align:middle line:84% That was an overwhelming experience for my mother 00:02:46.500 --> 00:02:54.479 align:middle line:84% The second, which connects us there 00:02:54.479 --> 00:03:02.539 align:middle line:84% in 1978 we met a couple about the same age from Plauen while we paddled in Poland. 00:03:02.539 --> 00:03:14.379 align:middle line:84% They lived in the same borderline area as we did here in Lüneburg and Reppenstedt, but they were never allowed to cross the border. 00:03:14.379 --> 00:03:21.939 align:middle line:84% And they showed us the road maps and the Federal Republic was a white spot. 00:03:21.939 --> 00:03:38.060 align:middle line:84% The roads to the border were distorted, so geographically incorrect, so no one came up with the idea to cross the border. 00:03:38.060 --> 00:03:47.060 align:middle line:84% How did you experience the harassment at the border? Could you sum that up? 00:03:47.060 --> 00:04:17.680 align:middle line:84% We experienced funny things actually. When we visited friends in Plauen, I had a winter jacket in the middle of summer. Of course the policeman knew that the jacket would stay in Plauen, but he said quite casually: "It can get cold at times." 00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:34.819 align:middle line:84% How was the turn? Was it marked by hope, now that Germany is one again? Or were there also fears and worries when the border was opened? 00:04:34.819 --> 00:04:46.259 align:middle line:84% I think this is a very individual matter. My family was just excited. 00:04:46.259 --> 00:05:00.759 align:middle line:84% But I know quite a few people, even in Lüneburg, who had the border in their minds for a very long time and did not travel there. 00:05:00.759 --> 00:05:14.379 align:middle line:84% My husband and I went on a few day trips on holiday or bridging days, always to areas we didn't know yet. 00:05:14.379 --> 00:05:23.220 align:middle line:84% There we experienced something that gave us food for thought. 00:05:23.220 --> 00:05:36.720 align:middle line:84% The people n the DDR were not used to decide for themselves, all official formalities were somehow made for them. 00:05:36.720 --> 00:06:04.360 align:middle line:84% A few years later on a paddle trip, our friend came in to talk to a lady who complained that she was not getting a pension. But she had never gone to the office to apply. 00:06:04.360 --> 00:06:14.060 align:middle line:84% I think that was one of the biggest problems for people in the East. 00:06:14.060 --> 00:06:36.519 align:middle line:84% If we look at the last 30 years, what would you say in retrospect? Was it a good development in the DDR and BDR or did something go wrong? 00:06:36.519 --> 00:07:00.819 align:middle line:84% I think there was both good and wrong. The factories in the East could not compete with those in the West because the machines were outdated. 00:07:00.819 --> 00:07:16.339 align:middle line:84% The bad thing was that the factories could be bought for a D-Mark and the people had hoped that something would change but instead they lost their jobs. 00:07:16.339 --> 00:07:32.180 align:middle line:84% That might be something the state could have handled differently. I think this sale of the trust created many problems. 00:07:32.180 --> 00:08:06.980 align:middle line:84% A problem that has now become conspicuous, was the last European election two weeks ago, in regards to the voting behavior in the new states compared to the old. Why would you say do more people in the new states elect the AFD, a nationalist populist party? 00:08:06.980 --> 00:08:19.860 align:middle line:84% They were only allowed to travel to the Eastern countries abroad and did not notice the changes in the West unless they had private contacts. 00:08:19.860 --> 00:08:45.559 align:middle line:84% There were no strangers in the DDR except the Vietnamese who lived in camps under very bad conditions. They were not used to dealing with foreigners and there I see the real root. 00:08:45.559 --> 00:08:58.620 align:middle line:84% It is hard to say what could have been done differently. I think you should have done more education work. 00:08:58.620 --> 00:09:17.340 align:middle line:84% What would you wish for the future of the parliamentarians, for the citizens of Eastern and Western Europe? What would have to happen to promote the peace project Europe and dismantle the walls in those heads? 00:09:17.340 --> 00:09:25.720 align:middle line:84% Well, we made those day trips to Plauen (former GDR) with our kids. 00:09:25.720 --> 00:09:36.279 align:middle line:84% We also went to the Berlin Wall in 1990 with our kids to work as Mauerspechte (refers to people who chip away at a wall) 00:09:36.279 --> 00:09:41.279 align:middle line:84% It also depends on education anywhere which allows an open mind to the world.