"Being an avid amateur filmmaker, I founded Filmstudio Weferlingen together with my colleague Karl Otto Riecke in the late 1950s. The studio was annexed to Amateurfilmstudio in Magdeburg. As was customary in the GDR, we also received commissions to make films, which we submitted to competitions, for the state forestry, the sand and clay works, and trade union.
In the summer of 1989, however, without being commissioned, we made a film together about the border between Weferlingen and Grasleben in Lower Saxony, West Germany. I had been working with the GDR border troops in my capacity as master electrician for nineteen years. My colleague, Karl Otto Riecke, worked closely with the border troops as an independent master smith. As a result, we were able to enter a section of the so-called border defence system.
Before we had even completed filming, the Stasi confiscated it at the border. Our regimental commander, however, encouraged us to re-shoot it. Although the border was not yet open at the time, we were still able to cross under the watchful eye of the border guards. Our second film dealt with the border defence system, the tripwires, no-man’s land, and the demolition of the watchtowers that had received quite a battering from the stormy weather and lighting there. We wanted to show, just this once, what things were like on our side of the border: for Weferlingen was in the restricted zone. It was difficult enough for East German citizens to apply four weeks before a planned visit for the required special entry permit, but the area was completely out of bounds for West Germans. So who could have known what it was like in Weferlingen and the surrounding area?
On 9 November, the Wall fell. On 15 November, the metal lattice fence in Weferlingen was opened. As of 18 November people could actually go back and forth through the gate between Weferlingen and Grasleben. We filmed this euphoric moment and included it in our film, which we entitled Endlich [At Last]. I was responsible for the sound; and Karl Otto Riecke, for the camera.
We really hadn’t expected our film to have such a great impact and to win third place in the 21st GDR Amateur Film Competition in Cottbus, let alone be shown at an amateur film competition in Sweden, or on French television."
Karl Heinz Gebhard (Weferlingen)
(39 rankings) 
