"It was Christmas Eve in this year of miracles. My son, who was a soldier in the West German army at the time, and I set off for the unfamiliar country on the other side of the border. At the time, the border area was still dominated by the Wall and barbed wire. Suddenly, a very friendly VoPo in the border zone put some sort of pass into our hands and wished us a good journey. His manner was quite heartfelt. Until the Wall was built in 1961 I had lived in West Berlin, where I had attended school. I was familiar with the way the Eastern 'superpower' harassed us. Later, when I visited my friends there and had to drive down that incredibly long autobahn – if you exited from it, you could be charged the highest fine in the GDR – it was almost always agonising. So my relief was great every time I succeeded in leaving the country again without being badgered at the border to West Berlin.
Now, all of a sudden, we were allowed to get off the autobahn. We set off for Halberstadt, where there was supposed to be a well-known cathedral. Looking back, it seems to have been a stroke of fate. The sun shone brightly, and every car we passed coming from the other direction (mostly, the famous Trabis and Wartburgs) greeted us by flashing their headlights or beeping their horns. We all waved to one another – it was a delightful journey. We drove through the beautiful countryside in what is now known as Saxony-Anhalt as if we were floating on clouds.
Considering how little sense the road signs made to us that day, I am still surprised we managed to find Halberstadt. But we really were on the right route. And on what is now the main road from Magdeburg, we were greeted nor far from Halberstadt by two men in a small caravan on a huge car park. They had painted a sign with the wonderful inscription: 'We welcome the citizens of the FRG and invite them to a free snack.'
The two men were Mr. Rzeppa and his son from Großalsleben, which – we learned – was the smallest 'town' in East Germany. Marlies, the mother, had stayed home to prepare dinner for Christmas Eve. Sitting together in the trailer, we men shared the most delicious homemade cake with sugar topping I have eaten in my entire life. We hit it off immediately and talked about the insanity of the Wall and praised Gorbi to high heaven for helping us overcome it.
Back at home in Peine, my wife and four daughters were waiting for us. They were almost on the verge of reporting us missing.
Since 24 December 1989, a very strong bond of friendship has existed between our families. No family celebration passes – be it a birthday, a wedding or a birth – without our celebrating it together. In all this time, and it is now the best of twenty years, not even the slightest problem has cast a shadow over our warm friendship."
Detlef Wilck (Peine)
(10 rankings) 
