Hungarian scholar: 'Germany should have learned more from the East' 

György Fehéri, a fellow of the Collegium Hungaricum Berlin, owned a passport allowing him to travel to the West at the time the historic events took place. He was speaking to Szilvia Kalmár of EurActiv Hungary.

To read a shortened version of this interview, please click here.  

The Berlin Wall collapsed on 9 November 1989, 20 years ago. Nowadays it is not only a symbol of the reunification of a divided country, but of the whole of Europe. As a Hungarian living in East Germany at the time, how did you see these events? 

I had a so-called world passport from the mid-1980s, so I used its advantages and went to West Berlin to spend my time there in the library or in the museum. Even then, the crossing was not too easy, furthermore I drove an empty car, and this is why the toll keepers were quite suspicious. Accordingly, the vehicle was nearly disassembled, because they were sure that there must have been something hidden. 

However, the wind of change was present in the last 6-12 months. More and more German friends of mine disappeared from East Berlin. They submitted the so-called Ausreiseantrag, which meant that they applied for resettlement to West Germany. Naturally it had an enormous effect on their lives, as they were expelled from the workplace or from university at the moment of submission. 

For instance, one of my best friends had been going to university before and became a porter in no time. He had already waited for permission for a long time when he got it in the summer of '89. He was not so lucky of course, as he left right before the fall of the Wall and lost his nice apartment upon crossing the border. 

What did these people see on the other side? 

I think the story of this friend of mine is a good answer to this question. I accompanied him to West Berlin when he left the GDR [German Democratic Republic = East Germany]. On Friedrichstrasse [where Checkpoint Charlie was located] he went before me and I followed him without showing that we knew each other, in order not to make the situation more difficult. I was behind him and I saw the humiliating situation when he was registered as an emigrant by East German officers. All of his packages were tipped out including ten steel balls. The officers were embarrassed but amused and asked what these could be. Indeed, he had to explain that it was his childhood that he carried there. 

After that we got on the S-Bahn and I also saw the next moment when we got off in the West. In that time I had got used to the different smell and colour of the East side: to tell the truth it had no colour. My friend got off at Bahnhof Zoo, the Western station, and he felt like when a black-and-white film becomes colourful. He staggered a little, because the landscape that he had only seen on television before really struck him. 

It was a complicated and hard summer and we could feel that something would happen. 

Furthermore I picked up news from Hungary as well about Eastern Germans who were staying there and waiting for something to happen. 

Where were you on the day the Wall fell? 

The night of the turn was really interesting. I was watching TV and saw the press conference where Schabowski [Günter Schabowski, a Communist high official, who after a misunderstanding, famously announced in a live broadcast that restrictions on foreign travel had been lifted] read out the label which was to announce the intention to consolidate the travel of Germans. I heard also that half-sentence, 'ab sofort', which meant that the new rules came into force immediately, but I could not understand its importance since I could move freely before. 

Afterwards I went to bed, but before daybreak my friend, whom I have already mentioned, woke me up to tell me that he was in East Berlin again and the Wall did not exist any more. 

The next day was really interesting. People did not go to work, but the streets of West Berlin were stuffed with Trabants [the smoky two-stroke plastic shell car, an iconic product of East Germany]. Half of East Berlin went to see a view from the other side. I picked up my passport and passed there to have a look at what was happening. The first West German or West Berliner who passed me wanted to give me a banana out of happiness that he could finally give a southern fruit to his Eastern brother. It was pretty difficult to explain to him that I did not deserve this present, because I had had the opportunity to buy bananas before as well. 

Taking everything into account, the first few days were a great chaos. Everybody came and stirred about, Eastern citizens did not have to pay on buses or subways. This couple of days was much like a carnival. 

Generally there is a lot of talk about the fall of the Wall, but less mention of what happened afterwards. How did the lives of everyday people change? 

Germans experienced it very differently. The most conspicuous change arrived in everyday life. 

Nowadays we say with a little bit of wicked exaggeration that practically the only thing that was taken over by the West is that small green bow next to the traffic lights, which means that when the lights are red it is still possible to turn right. 

However, on the night of the reunification, people did not think to the long term; that they would not only get Western currency but a Western administration, insurance system and practically everything else as well. A 30-40-year-old Eastern citizen had to learn the functioning of the West in a few days, because the system which he or she had possessed for forty years totally disappeared. 

Was this hard or pleasant? 

In the first moments it was an exciting game, because everything earlier desired and seen only on TV had suddenly become reality. On the other hand, looking at this from a distance, we realise that the socialisation of the people suddenly became invalid. Everything they had learned had changed. 

Western money showed up and the Western model prevailed in all spheres of life. On the shelves of the shops Western brands appeared, which were unknown to us. 

However, the economic differences remained... 

In the beginning this meant there was an East Germany where the economy was fighting for survival, and there was the West, which was obviously living in better standards. 

Those who had not only seen the events from the perspective that Coca-Cola and the Western Mark were coming imagined the change differently. This was particularly in the case of the East German civil opposition. They wanted the Eastern part of the country to develop separately after the fall of the Wall and to decide later on the country's reunification. They thought the country could have been formed in such a way that the functional elements in social and other aspects would be retained and that they could learn from the problems of capitalism. 

Chancellor [Helmut] Kohl's famous phrase that "no one's life will be worse than it was" was not met, to put it mildly. Right after the elections the two countries united immediately and entirely. Probably not much could have been done differently as if all people tear across the boat to one side, the ship tips over and sinks. 

The book 'German Unity at Lake Balaton', presented at the Leipzig Book Fair, and an exhibition which opened on 16 October in Berlin tried to show the personal side of the meetings held at Lake Balaton. You have obviously heard lot of reports and experiences regarding this. Which features are the same in every report? 

It is hard to answer this question as these are real personal stories, unique life destinies. This project was organised by the Collegium Hungaricum Berlin on the occasion of the 20th anniversary. We wanted to show how German unity between East Germans and West Germans, which did not exist in practice, materialised at Lake Balaton in the 60s, 70s and 80s. An exhibition was made with the installations of Peter Forgacs and a book was also published. Indeed, we collected a lot of reports of experiences. We conducted long interviews with people who were torn apart by the Wall and whose only chance to meet was at Lake Balaton. 

The installation can be viewed at the Collegium Hungaricum until 20 January 2010 and the book was published by be.bra in Berlin. 

In addition to the meetings at Lake Balaton, the Pan-European Picnic also underlined Hungary's key role in the relationship between the two Germanys. How did you, as a Hungarian living in Germany, see these events and what impact did they have on your life? 

Many people asked me what I knew about the Hungarian events as I got information from home. 

On the other hand, people were constantly watching the news with anxiety to see what would happen. The moment when hundreds of people were able to go to the West from Hungary via Austria created huge tension that could be felt here in East Berlin as well. People were watching with excitement as their relatives and friends were on their way, or were considering going or not. 

In those days the news coming from Czechoslovakia and Hungary was of central importance. 

What is the significance of the 20th anniversary for today's Europe? The European Union is experiencing a difficult period. It would like to put an end to its institutional reform problems, and is in fact about to decide whether to turn in a federal or confederal direction. Is it possible to draw a parallel between the merge of the two Germanys and European integration? 

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. People who see their life moderately know that at the moment, one of the safest and most peaceful lives can be lived in Europe, and the first step to building these circumstances was this change. 

However, long-term thinkers examine today's events with some concern. In Germany, due to its historical experiences, the question arises again and again that while we can choose between the two sides of the country freely, whether we live in East or West Germany, the refugees who arrive from other parts of the world are turned back without considering European law or getting among lugubrious conditions. 

So the unpleasant feeling lurks in us that although elsewhere, the borders still exist. Europe needs to cope with this extremely complex issue. 

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