When the wall came tumbling down

Once the border was opened East Germans came to the west in their Trabant cars

On 9 November 1989 the Berlin Wall was breached after nearly three decades keeping East and West Berliners apart. Annette Strauch, who now lives in Machynlleth, recounts her memories of living two miles away from the border with East Germany.

I clearly remember the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. I grew up right in the middle of Germany in the seventies and eighties in the land of Hesse, which was then close to the border to the east, Thuringia. (close means about two miles.)

When I was a little girl, my grandmother had talked about the war and how her family had to leave their homes which would today be in Poland.

This inner German border was 858 miles long and reached from the Baltic Sea to what is now the Czech Republic.

I was always frightened of the strict border controls. The East German soldiers were cold as ice and not friendly. Annette Strauch

I knew about the alarms, trenches, booby traps. I saw the watchtowers every day. We also knew some of the 50,000 German border guards were observing us. Where I lived and played was what Winston Churchill had seen as the Iron Curtain.

I saw this Iron Curtain from the bedroom window as well as a castle in the background (Hanstein Castle), where I thought I would never be able to go in my whole life.

Border controls

It became easier to travel to America than to go to the other part of Germany. However, I went several times for a visit before the wall came down after having to wait for a visa. I went to Erfurt, Weimar and Eisenach just to name a few places.

Life was different in the east. People were the same. I had a pen friend in the east called Silke.

The inner German border was 858 miles long from the Baltic Sea to the Czech Republic

We are still in touch now and good friends. I could visit her before 1989 but she was never allowed to come over to the West.

I was always frightened of the strict border controls. The East German soldiers were cold as ice and not friendly.

Escape

When I heard on the TV news on 9 November 1989 that the wall had come down in Berlin after the peaceful demonstrations, we all cried, and only three days later the borders were opened near the village where I lived.

I heard the noises from the workmen with their vehicles to pull the barbed-wired fences down, and after half past one on Sunday 12 November 1989 the first Trabis (Trabant cars) came through.

What an emotional feeling! As westerners we had all been to the shops buying welcome gifts and so on.

I couldn't forgot the smell of the Trabant cars for months after the wall had come down.

Everyone wanted to go to the West, to see all those places where they were not allowed to go, to meet friends and families.

November 1989 was an unforgettable experience when the crossings were opened immediately. In the past people had tried to escape and died.