Hungarian historian: ‘Kohl's promise was not kept'[de] 

As commemorations get underway to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, EurActiv explores the significance of the event in a series of interviews. 

György Fehéri, a fellow of the Collegium Hungaricum Berlin, is a Hungarian citizen who was living in East-Berlin. From the mid-1980s, he owned a so called “world passport” allowing him to travel to the West. 

"I used its advantages and went to West Berlin to spend my time there in the library or in the museum," he told EurActiv Hungary. Thus, when the Wall fell down, he didn’t fully realise the importance of the event.

Fehéri felt a wind of change in the previous 6-12 months. More than two months before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Hungarian dissidents and Austrian intellectuals organised a joint “pan-European picnic” on 19 August 1989. On that occasion, the Hungarian authorities agreed to open one of the border’s gates for a short time. On that day, some 900 East Germans who were living in Hungary escaped the country. 

Less than a month later, on 11 September, Hungary dismantled its border with Austria. This moment "created huge tension that could be felt here in East Berlin," said Fehéri.

Moreover, "More and more German friends of mine disappeared from East Berlin," he said as they applied for resettlement to West Germany. 

The literary historian explained the difficult situation they faced, being registered as emigrants by East German officers, just a few weeks before the Wall fell.

In the first days after 9 November 1989 night, "it was an exciting game, because everything earlier desired and seen only on TV had suddenly become reality," said Fehéri. 

But hopes brought by reunification quickly faded. "Chancellor [Helmut] Kohl's famous phrase that ‘no one’s life will be worse than it was’ was not met," Fehéri said.

According to Fehéri, "the past twenty years have shown that the merge of the two Germanys and its effect on strengthening European integration is extremely significant and was a positive change." 

However, "the borders still exist," he said referring to the scores of immigrants who are being denied access to European soil. "Europe needs to cope with this extremely complex issue," he said.

To read the full interview, click here.

If you like to react to this article, please click here.