"'You’d better watch out, a nigger just came in. They steal everything.'
I was shocked. It was forbidden to say 'nigger' in the West. Although I’d had a 'negro doll' as a child, which I adored, we were taught to use the term, 'colored' when we started school. We, the 'good guys' in the West.
There was a huge crowd. The 'Ossis' (slang for 'Easterners') all waited patiently in the queue. Each of them tried the 'Tchibo' coffee samples offered in plastic cups. As their life motto is, 'a tit for a tat', they most likely feel obliged to buy the coffee for 29 and 39 East German Marks a pound. I’m currently taking full advantage of the situation, which has resulted in a high turnover on my part – 360 pounds of coffee sold. I was almost overcome by feelings of guilt.
All the hotels were bursting at the seams, completely booked-out. Acquaintances always helped me find private accommodation in the East, free of charge. The people here were so much more helpful. The neighbors all knew one another and lived in an apartment building as if they were an extended family. They helped each other with a naturalness unknown to us in the West."
Claudia Zundel
(8 rankings) 
