Grossenhain: Steffen Peschel remembers the fall of the Berlin Wall 1989

Grossenhain: Steffen Peschel remembers the fall of the Berlin Wall 1989

Großenhain. On November 9, 1989, Steffen Peschel, a 58-year-old grandiciner, had a turning point in his life. On a sunny Thursday that was supposed to shape the story, the wall opened and with it the gates to freedom. Peschel, who had previously worked for a building materials trade in Berlin, had initially only heard on the radio. But the temptation to cross the border was a long time coming. He took the time, got a visa and first visited his family before driving to West Berlin with his mother and girlfriend on Saturday to collect the welcome money.

Freedom came as a surprise to Peschel. "I hadn't believed in opening the borders," he admits. But when the wall fell, he was one of the first to walk through all seven East Berlin border crossings. With every stamp that he collected, the reality of his new freedom became more tangible. He kept leaflets that were secretly distributed in his company before the fall of the Berlin Wall and collected over 500 postcards of the Berlin Wall. "We could finally get out - that would have been enough," he reflects nostalgically about the events that changed his life.

a new life after the turn

The time after the fall of the Berlin Wall was turbulent. Rumors about the 1: 1 exchange from Eastern in Westmark spread quickly, but reality was different. Peschel had difficulty getting to work in Berlin on time because the trains were overcrowded. He took the opportunity to make GDR coins into money in West Berlin. The turning point finally led to reunification on October 3, 1990, and his GDR building materials trade was converted into Stinnes hardware store. But Peschel was not taken over and returned to his company in Grossenhain. "If the turnaround hadn't come, I would have stayed in Berlin," he says and remembers the most beautiful years of his life.

Today, 35 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Peschel is back in Berlin to revive the memories. As a passionate hobby photographer and collector, he visits the places that mean so much. For him, the experiences of these eventful days are not only part of the story, but also part of his identity.