00:00The wall in Berlin came very surprised.
00:06The Bundesrepublik and the allies were very surprised.
00:14For me, the wall was more than everything a monster,
00:19because it divided my city, my city Berlin.
00:25I often asked my mother's mother's mother,
00:32and she said,
00:33she said,
00:34I can't sleep with that.
00:57We, in my personal life,
01:00it was always like,
01:02if you don't speak with this person,
01:04your parents are from the STASI.
01:06They knew, more or less,
01:08because the STASI was asking people,
01:12the informants,
01:12and they were pushing them,
01:14and they said,
01:15we're going to take your son,
01:17if you don't help us,
01:18if you don't sign.
01:20If you don't have any numbers,
01:22I don't have any numbers,
01:26but many people have their own act
01:30in the records
01:32because they were pressured
01:35by a horrible reason.
01:39But also,
01:41after the reunification,
01:45after opening the archives,
01:46they knew that people
01:49that they didn't have in the records
01:52were not official
01:58of the STASI.
02:01And they had been very strong processes
02:04for my parents
02:05and for many people
02:07that you know,
02:08even your husband
02:10worked for the STASI.
02:12My parents,
02:13but until today,
02:17they deny their own facts.
02:40The wall in Berlin
02:42came very surprised.
02:46The government and the allies were very surprised that this wall was built over night.
02:56And also the security of the other state border to the BRD was very consequentially carried out.
03:08There was a wide range of 5 km of security, in which you could only travel with a passerschein.
03:17For me, the wall was more than everything a monster.
03:22Because I divided my city, my city Berlin.
03:28And I also remember that I was born in the occidental part, in the west.
03:35And for us, it was possible to touch the wall.
03:40There was no restriction on our side.
03:44We could touch the wall.
03:46And that was never something pleasant.
03:51But the wall was always present in Berlin.
04:00It was a very tense situation.
04:08The elections were stolen.
04:11The cities were already without optimism, without any development.
04:18It was something that threw down the anger of the people.
04:23And came the summer, the summer of 1989.
04:28And in this summer, Hungary played an exceptional role in the history of Europe.
04:36It has played many times, but this time, with an impact that broke the wall.
04:44With my family, we went to Hungary to see us with friends who lived near Hamburg.
04:54We always took advantage of seeing us in a neutral place, which was Hungary.
05:01But this summer, Hungary opened its green border.
05:08So, many people, entire families, who went on vacation, decided to leave us.
05:16They left everything there, like in Leipzig, in Bitterfeld, in Dresden, in Schwerin, where I am.
05:25In Magdeburgo, in Rostock, in Berlin, or in small towns.
05:29And at the same time, many people went to the embassy in Prague.
05:38And arrived the minister of external relations, Hans Dietrich Gensher.
05:45And that was a lot of excitement.
05:51And I arrived...
05:55And I arrived...
05:57...to the city that could be able to leave...
06:05...to the Federal Republic.
06:17The name is Gruyta Szabolcski.
06:19It was about opening the wall.
06:24A Italian newspaper asked him the question why he has said...
06:29in the press conference, that it would be easier to travel,
06:35it would be easier to see his family in the other part of Germany.
06:42They were thinking about more liberties.
06:46And yes, from when would that happen, that of being able to travel?
06:52And Günther Szabowski, that guy who didn't have information, is watching his role,
07:01and saying, for what I know, that's from now, right now.
07:14And that was an incredible moment. For me, when I was 14 years old, I understood a little bit what
07:26happened,
07:26but it was much more a moment of joy for my parents and Germany in general.
07:34And as fast as we could, we crossed the border.
07:39And that of crossing the border, there was so many people.
07:45And I don't know, the amount of hugs, the amount of hugs,
07:51the amount of hugs, people...
07:55Nobody knew, but we felt like it was a people in this moment.
08:02When we went to Hamburg, we received a whole country, a whole family,
08:10which is something very exciting.
08:15And it continues to be, because to us, to my generation,
08:19we opened a world.
08:28One year after the reunification.
08:30One year after the reunification.
08:31Being in a new situation,
08:32Being from one day to another, in a new situation,
08:37was also something special.
08:39Because during those months, between noviembre 1989,
08:44until the day of the unification, on October 3, 1990,
08:52we lived in a few moments without knowing the future.
08:58Everything was in a process of a new construction.
09:04And now, more than 35 years later, it was the best that could happen to us in Germany.
09:18We are again a country.
09:22However, there are still differences between the North, the South, the West and the West.
09:33In Germany, in terms of economic terms.
09:37People in the East win less than the West.
09:43What happened in general is that the economy of the RDA was very deficient.
09:52It didn't work. People stole it.
09:56There was no private capital.
09:58There was no private capital.
09:59Any factory would remain in the state.
10:04In such a basic transformation, like the Union of both German states,
10:13there are always, like every revolution, winners and losers.
10:21And the new challenges for the United States were not protected by the fall of the wall.
10:29And the new rules are not protected by the other people.
10:38For those of you who have to represent the walls in Germany,
10:55are unnoticed by the way.
10:59the war in Ucrania or Israel, there is also a lot of positions if one is on the side of
11:11Israel or the Palestinians, etc.
11:13As we live in Germany, one day every one fell. Maybe people want to divide our societies, but that could
11:31not be the answer, at least in my conception of our societies.
11:37The people who are building walls do not understand the past.
11:48Well, today we were in a speech. A German historian came to give a speech to the students about the
11:56fall of the Berlin wall.
11:57Well, today we just talked with some of the people and thought that today here is broken a wall.
12:02It is to be able to establish dialogues with other countries, with other people,
12:08which for the children is so different.
12:10When we told them that two people came from another country and they said,
12:13no, it is true. Yes, it is true. No, it is impossible for you to enter the school.
12:17So, I think that today we broke a wall here.
12:20And through everything that we have here in the school, every day we broke different walls.
12:24Germany is a country different to Colombia, but at the end of the day we have the same dreams,
12:33of a same life, of a pacific life and of living in peace with our neighbors.
12:42And that is what we must try to do today and in the future.
12:52Thank you very much.
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