Berlin Wall Interview

Interviewers: Lena and Liesel Kemmelmeier

Interviewee: Barbara Walker

Barbara Walker is an associate professor of history, specifically modern European and Russian
history at the University of Nevada, Reno and at one point lived in Berlin while the Berlin Wall
stood.

Unfortunately, our audio equipment failed numerous times during the interview,
so instead we decided to record some direct quotes from our interviewee,
Barbara Walker, addressing main points of our interview.
"In East Berlin, because of the large number of secret police informants, people had
close-knit social circles composed of highly-trusted friends with whom they trusted their
lives."
"Although watching television was restricted in the East, many close to the border with
West Germany could still tune in and watch Western shows. As a result, many East
Berliners were exposed to how rich other countries/places were which in turn made
them resentful."
"With the installation of staircases that allowed West Berliners to peer over the Berlin
Wall into East Berlin, sometimes East Berliners felt as if they were zoo animals."
"Before the Berlin Wall was built, West Berliners would take advantage of the low,
government subsidized prices in East Berlin and do a lot of their shopping there."
I had 24-hour visas that limited my time spent in the East, so I would enter at 12:01 AM
and leave at 11:58 PM. It was exhausting."
"I would store the notes from my interviews with friends in East Berlin till I had a lot of
them, and would then pass them to the US Embassy for an acquaintance who worked
there to take out via diplomatic pouch, This was because I was always searched when
leaving East Berlin for the West; the first time I was searched they found my address
book with several addresses of East German friends, which put them in danger since
they were not supposed to be in contact with Westerners. I was horrified at my own
stupidity in trying to take the address book across the border myself."
"Because of the way that East Berliners valued trust and integrity in their friendships, I
met some of my best German friends at the time in East Berlin."
"The Wall was about ten minutes from my apartment in Wedding (a Berlin
neighborhood in the north), and I used to walk along the Wall through large, beautiful
community gardens that were on the Western side."

"The East German economy suffered partly due to the fact that the Soviets took away
their factories after defeating Nazi Germany. West Berlin, on the other hand, had a
flourishing economy in no small part because of the Marshall Plan."
"West Germans often felt guilty about WWII and the Holocaust while East Germans
often felt less so because they felt that they had already paid the price for their actions
by accepting and living under Russian (Soviet) rule."