The most important national event since the end of the war and the formation of the German states was the fall of the Wall in November 1989. In the days between the opening of the Wall and reunification, not long after the introduction of the Deutschmark as the official common currency, Friedel and I visited the GDR – still there but rapidly crumbling. We were very curious about the German East. There were no border controls any longer and we could travel unimpeded. There were still very few hotels. We often had to find other places to stay, sometimes in a former state holiday or rest home that was being turned into a hotel, sometimes in private homes to which we were sent by the local tourist offices.

In Erfurt we stayed with the concierge of a large apartment building, who entered our details into a so-called “house book” after checking our ID documents. When I asked why, he explained that it was a requirement, for a report to the authorities. Every stranger who spent the night in one of the houses he was responsible for, even for one night, had to be reported. When I pointed out that things had changed it made no impression on him. Rules were rules and stayed the rules until they were changed. And that hadn't happened yet. End of conversation. The man struck me as a dyed-in-the wool representative of the old order. He remarked in passing that he was looking forward to the evening. I asked what he was looking forward to. “Well – high-fiving [abklatschen] the Blacks,” was the answer. “Abklatschen” – I'd never heard the word before. It was clear that it meant something like beating up. I asked whether he was talking about people from Mozambique and Angola. He confirmed it. He meant the ones who had arrived in the GDR times as “guest workers” from the “fraternal countries” Mozambique and Angola. Many of them had fled to the Federal Republic after the fall of the Wall and requested asylum, but they were often deported straight back to their home countries.