Leipzig

The LVZ guest journalist looks at German division and the peaceful revolution.

“What are these shoes doing in your display case?” I cry out in amazement. My German colleague Martin Pelzl comes over, opens the case and from between the glass souvenirs from all over the world picks up two old but unused white trainers with green soles and presents them to me beaming. “I wore shoes like this back in the GDR days to play basketball. Look at how soft the sole and the shaft are. It was only a matter of time before you’d twist your foot in these. You can’t buy them anymore. They were a gift to me,” he says.

I nod appreciatively. Even 20 years after the end of the GDR regime, the good as well as the bad memories of these past times are still very vivid to many people who experienced the GDR … A few days ago, I was cycling along the park by St. Thomas Church at six in the evening. Bach’s music could be heard from afar. I halted and tried to imagine that 9th of October 1989 when ten thousand people in Leipzig began the peaceful revolution. These people fought together loudly and non-violently for their freedom. Their demonstrations marked the beginning of the fall of the wall, which eventually led to the reunification of Germany.

Between 1949 and 1990, Leipzig families lived under the GDR system, I have learned. They had more than potatoes, bread and butter to eat and a roof over their heads and schools for their children. All in all it was by no means a miserable life. Nonetheless, the state had no money to spare, for example to repair windows of flats. Sometimes during the winter the ice-cold wind penetrated the homes through crevices in the windows. The children probably warmed themselves in their mothers’ arms rather than go out.

It is now the year 2010. Government subsidies are offered for the renovation or demolition of those buildings considered the heritage of the GDR days. Sometimes even for older ones, yet they can still be found on many streets. I am always delighted anew when I see a modern building next to a Baroque one even if the façades are sometimes covered in bright graffiti.

Another colleague told me that he was born and raised in the Communist system and is now working in a Democratic system. People of his generation are now all at working age and in important positions.

Nonetheless, they do not forget the hardships of the past. “We worked hard over the past 20 years. We have factories of important automobile manufacturers like Porsche and BMW here in Leipzig. The city has developed into an important worldwide trade fair and exhibition site. Leipzig has changed. Dilapidated buildings await demolition. Tourists come to the city. A lot has been invested in the infrastructure of the whole city. In the future, everything will be more convenient and better than it is now,” he says.

City tour guide Brigitte Hessel, in her early fifties, has been showing visitors from around the world her city for over 20 years. She is proud that the sights of the city have been restored. What she does not like is the fact that many of the sights are now surrounded by more and more shops, which often sell the same clothes and shoes. I have to agree with her there. When I want to photograph the lovely buildings and churches that the people of Leipzig have passed down to today’s world, I often have to also photograph less lovely shops with their shoes, stands and shop windows. Almost as if to say: buy one, get one free!

Every time I converse with people in Leipzig, I sense something that they call “schwer beschreiblich” here – hard to describe. Is it perhaps the true feeling of these people for the GDR times? Or some sort of love-hate relationship? Like that pair of trainers in the glass case …