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"The Wall is gone", Berlin, November 13, 1989: Trabant in Schloßstraße [5/10]

OBJECT INFORMATION

Info

November 9 1989
Berlin, Schloßstraße
Created By: Claudia Zundel

License: Creative Commons License

View from the 46m high "Bierpinsel" tower on Schloßstraße in Steglitz; Wertheim department store is on the left

Depicts

newspaper, November 9, 1989, stop, street, Trabant (car), traffic light, warehousing

Context

consumption, fall of the Berlin Wall, food, welcome money

Places

Other places (Berlin)

Other items in this set

Memory

"Diary, November 13, 1989.
It really does seem to be a 'historic day' today: the Wall is gone. The streets are full of East German citizens who, after a 28 year wait, are finally able to buy their own 'Jacobs' coffee and 'Ritter-Sport' chocolate themselves. The banks are stuffed full of them, waiting in long queues to collect their 100 DM 'Welcome Money'(!). Well, they are used to waiting. Everyone is emotional and clamoring for reunification. The Wall has been reduced to an absurdity. But would it still be a historic moment if it transpired that 'the others from over there' were just as consumption-driven as we are? They are abandoning their homes, hearths and friends and making-do with accommodation in sports halls just to experience a little glamour at KaDeWe (department store) and the 'freedom of press'. Why aren’t we going to the East?"

Claudia Zundel