"On Saturday afternoon we moved across to the Bahnhof Straße, a street which back in the 1960s already witty insiders liked to self-mockingly call the "Champs Elysées of Lichtenrade." But it must have meant much more than that for the new arrivals: a true shopping paradise. It must have been beyond most people's comprehension as to why there be a shopping promenade in a small district on the outskirts of West Berlin that boasted a selection of goods that never failed to outdo even the most glamorous of GDR boulevards.
Thus, it wasn't at all necessary to take the 15-kilometre-long and, in any case, blocked road to Kurfürstendamm in the centre of town. Given the abundance of wares found here in the suburbs, people would have no difficulty spending the 100 DM "welcome money".
One memory that still leaves me overcome with emotion is that of us going home that evening along the Bamberger Straße. A quiet side street jammed full of, in part, hastily parked East German Trabi and Wartburg cars. Looking through the rear window you could see what the visitors had bought. Toys appeared to be a particularly popular purchase. There was hardly one single backseat that didn't have some Lego on it. It seemed to be especially important to people that their children be able to take part in the rejoicing. It was only a hundred Marks but the children had to have their share. That morning I had seen the odd West Berliner press some bank notes through the side window of the car into visitors' hands while they sat waiting, stuck in a traffic jam. It didn't take much to imagine what their financial situation was like.
I learnt a lot during the course of that weekend – and the following one. I felt totally overwhelmed when I saw how, starting from the top of the Bahnhof Straße, the Lichtenrade locals had set up a whole line of trestle tables on the pavement. They were covered with thermos flasks filled with coffee and plates piled high with homemade cake. I was so taken aback by people's warmth and spontaneity. I had never thought such a thing possible.
News moved swiftly and daily. It's only really possible to see how quickly time passed in retrospect. The following weekend was also defined by a mood of continued elation; in fact, there were even more people than there had been the first weekend. And the endlessly long queues in front of the seven or eight banks and the Sparkasse branches on the Bahnhof Straße were particularly striking. Nevertheless, many things had already come to feel a little more routine, and when I called my aunt in Hanover at Christmas – who, like my mother, had been born and bred in Berlin – a critical shaking of the head had already replaced the enthusiasm expressed just recently. Her main concern seemed to be about what all this change was going to mean in the way of increased taxes. I hadn't anticipated quite how far away Hanover could be. Things around us were in daily flux – and they sat far away in their armchairs and knitted their brows."
Ulrich Waack (West Berlin)
