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Long Thread: 1/ We could all do with a happy story & I‘m going to tell one with pictures about something that occurred exactly 31 years ago on the 12 November, 1989. Picture the scene in the community of Wildeck-Obersuhl in West Germany, directly on the border with East Germany.
2/ I spent time here as a student & imagine being fenced in by a border with East German guards in watchtowers looking over at you every minute of the day. This was how it looked & I remember it as if it were yesterday.
3/ When locals spoke of “da drüben” they meant the unmentionable DDR, where family & friends of many years lived but the 2 ways of life were growing apart. That was until the late 80s when everything moved at breakneck speed.
4/ The Berlin Wall fell slightly by accident on 9 November thanks to a press statement read out by DDR government spokesman Günther Schabowski. He misunderstood his superiors exact intentions & announced that the border would be opened “effective immediately, without delay.”
5/ Günter (correct spelling) thus helped usher in the scenes we’re all familiar with as East Berliners enjoyed the night of their lives. But what about the smaller towns & villages up and down the border? Well, they had to wait a few days & it varies from community to community.
6/ In Wildeck-Obersuhl, they watched and waited for their moment to be reconnected with Untersuhl, the community just a few hundred metres away but in many respects a whole world away, not knowing when it might arrive. Everyone was on tenterhooks.
7/ Late in the evening on 11 November, Willi Müller, the mayor of Wildeck was informed that there was activity on the A4 Autobahn on the DDR side. On the western side they assumed this had to do with preparations to open the border. But they hadn’t received any official word.
8/ Willi met 2 customs officials right by the A4 border & they heard the workers over on the eastern side. Willi shouted into the darkness & asked who was there. No one replied. But he was determined to do something that previously would have been unthinkable.
9/ Willi walked about 20 metres over the marked line & entered DDR territory. Suddenly out of the darkness, a group of East German soldiers told him brusquely to get off DDR soil. But something told him to stand his ground. He identified himself as Willi Müller, mayor of Wildeck
10/ He asked to speak to the officer in charge. A major of the DDR “Grenztruppe” emerged & in a curt tone asked what he wanted. Willi introduced himself & noting their work on the border area of the A4, said he assumed they were preparing to open the border.
11/ Willi wanted to know the exact time they were planning to do this so he in return could make the necessary arrangements on the western side as they hadn’t received any official news. The officer replied all official details had been relayed to Bonn (the West German capital.)
12/ Willi wasn’t going to back down. “Bonn is far away. We’ve heard nothing. I’m asking you please tell me the planned time of the border opening.” After hesitating, the officer gave Willi his answer. “The border will be opened at this location tomorrow at 10 am.”
13/ Willi thanked him and then made a simple request. “can I shake your hand? “ Again hesitating, the major shook Willi’s hand and they went their separate ways into the night on opposite sides of the frontier. Little sleep was had by Willi and his team that night.
14/ Calls had to be made to various arms of local government and of course to local residents themselves. Word got out quickly. Welcome signs were hastily produced through the night. This was going to be the day of their lives in Wildeck-Obersuhl.
15/ TV crews and press from all over West Germany were on hand to record history at 10am on 12 November, 1989. The first car came through the border at 10.01am, a Lada from Dankmarshausen.
The Lada didn’t want to go far, only as far as nearby Wildeck-Richelsdorf but it was followed by a queue of East German traffic. Trabis, Wartburgs galore for the rest of that unforgettable day in Ost-Hessen. Every car got its own individual welcome.
17/ Imagine how emotional that was for a community that had become resigned to looking across a fence and wondering. It was a celebration of life and rediscovered connections.
18/ The East Germans were given welcome money by their Western counterparts and even on a Sunday as it was, the local shops were open and there was a lot of spending. Eventually they made their way back to the DDR & the traffic stretched back 1 kilometre in Obersuhl.
19/ A meeting of East and West German officials established that day that in 2-3 days the DDR side would open up their border to Western visitors without a visa.
20/ Several weeks later at a meeting in Thüringen on the Eastern side, Willi Müller was approached by that same DDR major he had met in the night by the Autobahn. He wanted to apologise for his unfriendly behaviour & explained that the speed of events that week had affected him.
21/ The officer‘s name was Major Fleischmann from Grenzkommando 304 in Eisenach. 2 men forever united by one moment of shared history.
22/ I last was back to visit nearly 20 years ago but the ICE train from Frankfurt to Leipzig goes right through Wildeck & when on commentary duty in Leipzig, I always smile as we whizz through this familiar terrain. But we should never forget what it was once like.
23/ This was the border by the A4 in 1989 just months before Willi had that conversation with Major Fleischmann. Part of me still has “die Grenze im Kopf” (the border in my head.) But thankfully it’s long gone.
24/ Thanks for reading the thread. This will always be a special place to me & its history is recorded in the local Grenzmuseum (border museum.)
25/ Oh and pics of Willi himself. On the left just seconds before the border was opened on 12 November 1989 preparing to welcome visitors from the East. On the right , formally marking a new chapter a year later. Thanks for taking an interest.
