"I had a penfriend in the East who I got to know through a chain letter (something that was rather disapproved of in the GDR). We met in person for the first time in the early 1970s. I must have been something like 12 or 13 years old and my penfriend a little younger. Together with our parents we met at the Michendorf motorway station which was situated along the transit route. Given that it was actually forbidden for West and East Germans to meet, our encounter wasn't without danger. One could never be sure there weren't going to be some Stasi people patrolling the car parks, observing people. We were very careful and parked the cars far away from one another. And all went well.
After the fall of the Wall my boyfriend and I went to visit my penfriend, her husband and son in Leipzig. At the time they lived in a pre-WWII neighbourhood. The period buildings were in a very bad state of disrepair and she had mould on the walls in her flat. The facades boasted writing that dated back to before the war. Some of the names were Jewish. The house walls had stories to tell."
Dagmar Lipper (West Berlin)
