"I was born in the East Berlin district of Pankow and grew up in West Berlin. Later, I moved first to Schleswig-Holstein and then to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. My family had been torn apart, with some living in the East and others in the West, so that I experienced the full impact of the division of Germany from my youth onwards.
In December 1989, after the peaceful revolution in the GDR, I rallied a group of active citizens from the town of Schleswig and some former GDR citizens who had moved there to establish a citizens’ action group for German unity (BDE). The idea was to help the political opposition in the GDR to shake off communism and to work towards the reunification of Germany with an undivided Berlin as its capital. I was elected chairman of the group.
Our movement was strengthened by the backing of local leaders from nearly all the political parties, the presidents of large clubs and organisations, as well as the support of the local savings bank, whose managing director was also the speaker of the state parliament.
Many of the former GDR citizens in the BDE were originally from Güstrow. As editor of the newspaper Schleswiger Nachrichten, I had also worked hard to set up a partnership with the town of Waren. Hence, I built up close ties with the popular movements in both these Mecklenburg towns. Our sphere of activity then expanded to take in Schwerin, Rostock, Neubrandenburg, and other districts; it even extended into the neighbouring state of Brandenburg. In December 1989 and January 1990, there were still fears that the Stasi might launch a putsch and so we travelled to these places with mixed feelings.
We succeeded in organising large consignments of aid – people needed all sorts of things, from paper clips, typewriters, and photocopiers to printing machines. We made sure the aid got to movements like the 'Neues Forum' and 'Demokratischer Aufbruch', and deliberately avoided the parties that had been established in pre-GDR days and then gone along with the regime. We spread our ideals on the streets, at evening lectures, in panel discussions with politicians from West Germany, and in seminars for future government employees.
It seems the BDE was creating such a stir that one newspaper in what was still the GDR included it in a list of the popular movements in East Germany. How original!"
Uwe-M. Troppenz (Schleswig)
(2 rankings) 
