Berlin, 1989.
- November 9, 2009
- By Michael Kaulkin
- Reminiscences
- 1 comment
Long story as to how and why, but within a few days of the Berlin Wall opening on November 9th, 1989, I was on an overnight train from Budapest to Berlin to check out the scene. Then I was removed from the train in the middle of the night at the Hungarian/(then) Czechoslovak border. The Velvet Revolution in Prague wasn’t scheduled to happen for another week, and I found out they were actually still serious about the whole “transit visa” thing. So I hung out with the border guards until the next train came through on the way back to Budapest.
I did end up making it to Berlin in January, just barely in time to still experience the surreal border crossing choreography that was still in place for Westerners wishing to travel from East Berlin into West Berlin: Coming in from within the Eastern Bloc, you arrived in East Berlin’s Lichtenberg station and took the Ost S-Bahn to the massive transit hub at Friedrichstraße. You got off the train and went down below the platform into a labyrinth of long lines and passport control only to come back up just one platform over in the same station, where you were effectively now in West Berlin and could board a West Berlin-bound S-Bahn. It was very strange.
During that visit I was able to join the throngs of people hacking at the wall with whatever tools were available. It was one big party all along the wall, which we followed from Checkpoint Charlie to the Brandenburg Gate. By then the gaps in the wall were substantial enough that one could peek through and see the vast empty space that had once been Potsdamer Platz, which in its time was one of the most bustling spots in Europe, and leveled in World War II. Now it was nothing but a field of mud and grass that was overrun by — wait for it — bunnies.
That Summer, as part of the reunification process, the Ostmark (East German currency tied to the East Bloc economy) had just been discontinued, and East German citizens were required to exchange them for West German Marks before a certain date, or risk being left with worthless currency. (I still have a handful of Ostmarks. Shhh…. don’t tell the Stasi.) While official reunification still had not occurred, Germany was effectively now one country. The bizarre in-between status of that period is best illustrated by what happened to me as I made preparations for a return trip in July:
Having learned my lesson from the Czechs before, I dutifully went to what was left of the East German embassy in Budapest for a transit visa to get through East Germany to West Berlin. After waiting for what seemed like an oddly long time, given that the place was deserted. There seemed to be a complication, so I inquired. The bureaucrat behind the window was smiling, almost giggling:
“Vell, Mister Kaulkin, ze problem is, you are reqvired to have a trenzit visa in order to cross East Germany into Vest Germany. However, zair iss no longer a border betveen East Germany and Vest Germany, and so zair is no such thing as a trenzit visa!”
His advice? ”Don’t vorry about it.”
Valerie
Hi Michael,
I really enjoyed reading about your memories.How fascinating to have been behind the Iron Curtain at that time. The bureaucracy must have seemed more and more absurd!
I was in Berlin visiting a friend the summer after the Wall came down and had a fascinating time wandering along sections of the wall, in and out of East Berlin, hanging out by the Brandenberg gate, which still looked over No-Man’s Land. What I remember most was a great and surprising feeling of peace, and a great gratitude and excitement to be able to witness the early stages of such a huge transformation.