15 years on: the East German exodus recalled
It may seem hard to believe but it is fifteen years since the world witnessed the dramatic days of social upheaval and protest that eventually led to the fall of Communism in Europe. At the time reform movements in the Soviet satellites were given a new impetus by the Soviet Union's last leader Mikhail Gorbachev who announced "Life punishes those who come too late". The scenes in Berlin in November 1989 are vividly remembered, but we sometimes forget one of the last episodes just before those heady days - in the autumn of that same year thousands of East Germans determined not to wait another minute, found a rather unconventional way of leaving, to seek asylum in the West.
Within days the trickle of refugees had turned into an all-out flood: to the astonishment of the Czechs still trapped well within hard-line Czechoslovakia, hundreds camped out in Prague's Mala Strana district, before finally climbing over the West German embassy's fence, determined not to leave, never to return home.
"Prague had been a classic grey communist city. But, suddenly it turned into something like a great chaotic market place. Cars overloaded with blankets, carrying backpacks with food, children crying, some of them dropping their toys. People threw away anything that wasn't essential. To this day I am convinced that this German exodus was the beginning of the revolution. These hordes of Germans, they transformed the Mala Strana."
Soon the numbers of asylum-seekers on the embassy grounds swelled to over four thousand, a crisis was at hand: days turned into weeks and the conditions grew more severe: rain, injuries, sanitation problems, distribution of food: problems grew more severe with each passing hour.
One man spoke through the embassy fence describing the drastic conditions.
"The conditions here are dreadful. A woman gave birth yesterday. There are no medicines here, there's only one doctor. A solution must be found - urgently. We can't hold out any longer."
A moment never forgotten by the thousands who weathered the six-week ordeal, including this man from Erfurt, in what used to be East Germany fifteen years ago.
"We felt that something must happen, that something is going to happen to us. The famous balcony scene made the whole experience even more intense. Out came Genscher - I'll never forget the moment. My legs began to shake. It was all unbelievable."
How they see the East German exodus today
"In truth it was a signal of freedom, not just for the four-and-a-half thousand people in the Embassy, but for all Germans and for all Europe, when the East Germans in Prague were allowed to leave. This happened with the agreement of East Germany. It was a signal that the Berlin Wall wouldn't hold out."
This week Mr. Genscher and the former Czech dissident and later foreign minister, Jiri Dienstbier met in the Bavarian town of Bamberg to receive the Adalbert Stifter Award for their contribution to Czech-German understanding. RP's Gerald Schubert was there and I asked him to tell us a little bit about the Stifter award:
"The interesting thing about it is that it is not about money at all -it is a so called art award. The prizes they get are works of art and it is always two people who get this prize -one from the Czech Republic and one from Germany. It doesn't have to be politicians, writers have also received it - for instance Milan Kundera for the Czech side, there were also some school directors who founded Czech-German schools in the Czech Republic and Germany and this year it was politicians - the former Czechoslovak foreign minister Jiri Dienstbier and for the German side Hans Dietrich Genscher."
And why were they selected?
"These two people have been getting awards not only for promoting Czech German understanding but also for European unification because of the fact that they cut through the Iron Curtain at Rozvadov -Waidhaus in 1989, which is the biggest Czech-German border crossing, but of course that was only a symbolic gesture. The main reason is that they really contributed to Czech-German understanding before and even afterwards."
"I'm delighted to have been given this prize along with my old friend Jiri Dienstbier. We first met during the Prague Spring of 1968, and he is one of the most important figures, who through their intellectual influence helped to bring down the Berlin Wall from the east."
For the former Czech dissident Jiri Dienstbier the events of 1989 were something that all his previous years had led up to:
"What took place then was a unique historic experience. If my life were to bring nothing else of significance - the fact that I lived to see the fall of the Iron Curtain -and could, in a small way, contribute to it - that is enough to give my life meaning. "
