WEBVTT 1 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:08.439 Moderator: Which revolution has shaped your personal life the most? 2 00:00:08.439 --> 00:00:20.800 That was the Democratic Revolution of 1989 - when people from the DDR took to the streets because they wanted freedom. 3 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:41.039 So these events in 1989 have an emotional significance for me, they did not mean a move for me because I did not live in the DDR. 4 00:00:41.039 --> 00:01:00.520 But they have moved me emotionally a lot, because in 1989 my cousin with the People's Army was one of the things I learned later that near Leipzig, 5 00:01:00.520 --> 00:01:12.760 where the Monday demonstrations took place, where tens of thousands of people and hundreds of thousands end up. 6 00:01:12.760 --> 00:01:35.760 He was on duty every Monday as a soldier for a call-service. If Berlin had received a call from the government that this force is in the vicinity of Leipzig, 7 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:50.120 this are these demonstrations, which are to dissolve this Monday demonstration by force of arms, my cousin. 8 00:01:50.120 --> 00:02:06.519 What could have been critical and what moved me emotionally even more was that my aunt and uncle, the parents of my cousin, who also lived in Delitsch near Leipzig, 9 00:02:06.519 --> 00:02:19.759 would have liked to go to Leipzig for the Monday demonstration, but because they were parents, they knew that their son was on call every Monday. 10 00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:28.960 Of course that was very stressful for the whole family. 11 00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:46.639 The people who took to the streets for their freedom in 1989 always had to reckon with the possibility that the DDR state would say no, no matter if there was kinship or not. 12 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:56.800 The people of armies were assigned the task of ending this demonstration by force. 13 00:02:56.800 --> 00:03:07.759 At that time, even before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, I participated a s a student in exchange for parishes. 14 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:22.840 There were partner communities where people met between East and West. That did not like to be seen from the DDR side, 15 00:03:22.840 --> 00:03:34.960 but the church congregations wanted to bring people together, despite the wall. 16 00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:39.240 The wall should not separate us. 17 00:03:39.240 --> 00:03:54.360 but it was necessary, and that was interesting, you could not say "let's plan a trip in the summer holidays or two weeks or tomorrow to the DDR" 18 00:03:54.360 --> 00:04:03.919 That was not possible. You needed an entry permit and it had to be applied for by the people you traveled to. 19 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:25.639 So my aunt or uncle had to make an application to the police that I, Bernd Werner, his parents and his sister would like to travel to the DDR for two weeks during the summer. 20 00:04:25.639 --> 00:04:33.879 Then it had taken and took and lasted. 21 00:04:33.879 --> 00:05:05.079 And the entire trip to the DDR was not so pleasant, then the gate was opened and you had to show your entry permits and the car was opened and partially fully tested. 22 00:05:05.079 --> 00:05:18.759 Political magazines that did not correspond to the views of the DDR could have been present. 23 00:05:18.759 --> 00:05:33.439 Moderator: Some further questions about Europe - What were the political and social changes of the revolution with regard to Europe and how did you notice? 24 00:05:33.439 --> 00:05:48.920 At first, so to speak, with the single treaty, came the former DDR with 16 million citizens. 25 00:05:48.920 --> 00:06:10.600 And that was like a domino game - one country after another from the Eastern bloc could join this empathic turn: Romania, Bulgaria. 26 00:06:10.600 --> 00:06:26.800 For many there was skepticism - how will that be when Europe gets bigger, and because people from the East whose language has not been learned did not know much. 27 00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:45.000 Unfortunately, this skepticism is still there today, but nevertheless Europe got the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012, because that was already a way to more peace 28 00:06:45.000 --> 00:07:00.319 that was already a significant turning point in the history of Europe and also in my personal biographical story and that's why I can only welcome that. 29 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:06.959 Moderator: We have already talked about the positive things and hopes for the turnaround and Europe. 30 00:07:06.959 --> 00:07:14.360 And perhaps again in contrast with that which disappointments you have experienced in relation to Europe? 31 00:07:14.360 --> 00:07:30.319 For me, too, that was pretty cruel what came to light, where I said that this should not happen again 32 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:48.720 we have to see that these negative sides, that people are restricted, that human rights are not lived, that human rights do not exist - that must not be again. 33 00:07:48.720 --> 00:08:22.000 What was negative and what also caused long-term displeasure in the former DDR was that real estate agents went to the DDR and also bought cheap land on the Baltic Sea. 34 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:47.000 None of those who lived in the DDR at the time thought of it as a tourist highlight. Many could not imagine that, that was a very negative impact. 35 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:52.559 One has also talked about "Better-West-People" for a while. 36 00:08:52.559 --> 00:09:03.600 Many people just went to the DDR to work and live there, a lot of things bought up, went back to the West - 37 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:16.440 these people then wanted to teach the DDR citizens about the market economy, because you were in the planned economy. 38 00:09:16.440 --> 00:09:35.679 What has also shaped people and why there may also be many supporters of parties in the eastern states today who have nationalist attitudes. 39 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:42.000 Moderator: Do you rather see that this movement subsides or rather increases? 40 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:53.279 I can not say that, but of course I hope that it will decrease again. But for that we have to contribute something. 41 00:09:53.279 --> 00:10:06.960 We just have to see people in the former DDR, especially the biography. Many people did not come along mentally with the turnaround. 42 00:10:06.960 --> 00:10:20.360 Much has been lost, which was worked out for years. Questions like: 43 00:10:20.360 --> 00:10:35.000 What is my identity and now I should suddenly, even if I have not demonstrated in Leipzig I should count me as a member of the Federal Republic of Germany! 44 00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:40.720 I think that many were simply overwhelmed.