Berlin Wall 1961-1989 A walk from Berlin to Berlin, 25 years later. “Today, when I'm talking to a person I still ask mymind if he's from the East or the West. Don't you?”

Following the Wall Path (Mauerweg), I met Thomas with two friends while they were cycling in Mariannenplatz, along the Luisenstadt Canal. He had a few minutes but he shared with me one live memory of his, when in 1982 he used to go there with his girlfriend, spending some time on the grass in front of the wall that isolated St. Thomas church from East Berliners. "It was so absurd."

Cliewe Juritza, tour guide. Contemporary witness. He and his sister Annett are from Prenzlauer Berg but I've met them near the Wall Memorial. In 1984 when he was 19 he tried to flee to West Germany because he couldn't accept to live in a divided city. He was arrested, interrogated, released and observed. Condemned to 12 months, after 10 months in prison he's been released and sold to West Germany where he lived and studied Political Sciences. On the 9th of November, He was in a pub with some other students. It was late when a man broke into the pub shouting that the wall had fallen. Cliewe thought the man was too drunk such it it was so unbelievable to him. He went back home as usual and discovered that was true the day after. He came back to Prenzlauer Berg in 1991. [more...]

Luisa Bez, pre-school teacher. She was born in Venezuela, has lived in Italy and then moved to West Berlin in 1982. She feels home in Kreuzberg. Berlin is a live and active city, despite in her opinion after the fall of the wall everything changed, and not only in a positive way! “Die Mauer ist gefallen”, the sentence is fixed in her mind! She felt so different and opposite feelings: fear, bitterness, disappointment and happiness at the same time. [more...]

Marion Brasch, writer and Radio producer. She was born in 1961. She grew up and still live in Prenzlauer Berg. Her latest book speaks about her family life in East Berlin. I took this portrait in the old building where she grew up. Her parents were Jewish communists who met in London. They returned to East Berlin, where her father went on to become a high party functionary, a culture vice-minister. Her three brothers - but her - rebelled against their father authority. When we speak about the wall, lack of freedom and people impossibility to travel, she explain that freedom is in our mind and that it was only a small part of the thing. “From 1989 there's a lot of people who've never travelled despite the wall had fallen. Freedom is more then just leaving a country.”. For her the most exciting time was from 1989 to 1992, it was the time of change: “nobody knew what's happening the next day”. On the 1st of November 1989 she had the permission to visit her brother in West Berlin. She was excited but she didn't feel really good. She had no money, her brother was too busy so she passed all the day, sitting in his apartment! Anyway, after the fall of the wall she had no reasons to go the West. [more...]

Juppy, Ufafabrik. In 1969, at the age of 20 Juppy moved to West Berlin. He's a revolutionary artist and entrepreneur from Ufafabrik, a place where the key words are Culture, Sustainable Development and Community. All his life is characterized by doing culture. [more...]

Matthias Priller, music producer. I met Matthias at Oberbaumbrücke. In 1989 he was 13 years old. He told me that Political discussions were totally present in their family and school life, He's sure this is not so common now. He was young but he could clearly perceive their isolation because of his teenager brother who wanted to travel and see the world. He wanted to be a sailor but the STASI didn't allow him to study for it. It was one or two days after the wall fall when his mother brought them to West Berlin for the first time. He didn't go to school that day and he tried to stay home saying that he had to do lots of homeworks because he was scared. He was afraid something could suddenly change again while they were in the West part of the city! [more...]

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