Travels behind the Iron Curtain: before the fall of the Berlin Wall
by
KLAUS JURGENS

Eastern Europe before the fall of the Berlin Wall

I was 27 years old in 1989 and many of my generation had been extensively involved in East- West or “All European”-youth politics.

Looking behind what was commonly referred to as the Iron Curtain; I visited the Soviet Union, Budapest, Prague and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from the years 1985 to 1989. Perhaps surprisingly and unbeknownst to many outside observers things had begun to move forward, not by external pressure but through internal determination. However, change does not happen overnight and what I was able to witness was perhaps only gradual change, but nevertheless it was quite significant. Let me talk about a number of meetings which made me believe that a new generation of leaders, carefully groomed by the politburo’s of the time but much more open to accepting change as a necessity, would over time come to terms with new realities and granting extended personal freedoms to their emerging civil societies, including themselves.

We met with representatives of the ruling socialist/communist party’s youth movements, powerful in their own right and perceived to be the future leaders of their countries whilst no one from my generation was certain to ever being elevated into higher political office.

In 1985 I participated in a 500-strong “Western” delegation attending the Moscow World Youth Festival. Under Mikhail Gorbachev the first signs of an easing of restrictions that hampered so many aspects of Russian everyday life became visible. We visited private homes of ordinary citizens, ate in Moscow’s first pizza restaurant and roamed freely all over town without anyone looking over their shoulder. We brought a famous rock star along too, who was allowed to give public concerts -- a first for him and a precedent for what was to come in the near future. Had I landed on a distant totalitarian planet, heavily policed? Not really. I rather felt disheartened by realizing that what many of my fellow West European youth-representatives took for granted back home and of course did not find in Russia and defined as “freedom” came down to comparing levels of economic development, material matters. Still, we knew about human rights violations and restricted freedom of speech. For us it was a delicate balancing act to say the least.

I flew back to Russia one year later in 1986, this time with 10 or so of my colleagues. The meetings were part of a cross-border, cross-systems youth dialogue aimed at the future political party and NGO leaders on both sides of the Iron Curtain getting to know each other. The message we carried with us and heard from our hosts was one of peace, not war.

We continued to Baku, where we received a very warm welcome indeed. The first place our hosts took us to visit had been the local mosque, followed by a fascinating indoors-outdoors museum and then the impressive oil platforms located offshore in the Caspian Sea. We were told that there were no unreasonable demands being levied upon them from Moscow, that religion could be practiced relatively freely and that they were hoping more tourists would be able to come and visit. Although we had been accompanied by two leading members of the communist party’s youth organization flying down with us from Moscow there was no big-brother type of atmosphere. Even our guides from central office started to relax and unwind once in Baku; Moscow’s corridors of power seemed to be light-years away.

Talking about the environment, Hungary 1987

I had heard a lot about Hungary trying to implement a more inclusive set of policies and in late 1987 was keen to see with my own eyes whether this held true or not. Hungary would rank first if measured on a scale of alternative topics we were able to discuss. Yes, we had of course a local party official “accompanying” our delegation (the “interpreter”). We met student representatives who had been “selected” beforehand but nevertheless gave a fascinating insight into what was about to happen in that country soon. The environment had become a focus of attention, so had the role of women in society and addressing the gender imbalance. A visit to Prague the same year underlined my observations -- Eastern youth leaders asked for dialogue, best practices and support.

Germans were simply Germans -- whether East or West

Compared to a certain “laissez-faire” attitude as witnessed in Russia, Prague and Budapest, meeting East Germany’s Socialist Unity Party (SED) youth leaders was an altogether different story. Not simply because the GDR was one of Russia’s satellite states, always afraid of falling out with Moscow; socialism was more pure, or perhaps simpler than the version we had encountered in Russia. A youth festival or large scale event was to be held in the form of a “camp,” and not in posh hotels. I visited East Germany three times between 1987 and 1989 -- once for the above mentioned “camp” near Berlin, once on a special three city tour focusing on the emerging computer revolution and meeting young fashion designers and finally for the Jung Königswinter Conference. We were able to listen to a message of communication, trying to arrange for more meetings and slowly but steadily opening the door to increased youth and student exchange programs. I sensed that our East German partners were afraid that perhaps socialism would one day cease to exist; our view was that the final generation of East German youth leaders was interested in keeping a state they could actually manage instead of being the permanent understudy for their “rich” West German neighbors.

During the above mentioned 1988 Jung Königswinter Conference youth representatives from both the United Kingdom and East and West Germany came together to acquaint themselves with each other, relate to issues of mutual concern and above all learn about respect for each other. Visiting our British army representation as part of the Allied Forces in West Berlin on that occasion one year before the fall of the Berlin Wall no one would even think of that being a possibility with Berlin politics being the art of the possible, normalization was the top item on the agenda.

It would be wrong to state that the Berlin Wall was the last of its kind. Walls can be physical and they can be psychological too. A wall can resemble an unjust border or separation. Think the two Korea’s, think Israel and Palestine. Besides, we can distinguish between walls made out of concrete and less obvious ones which are nevertheless as harmful. A wall can exist in politics, perceptions, minds and even hearts. Peaceful coexistence is not possible as long as we continue to erect various types of barriers, obstacles and manifestations of hatred. Think apartheid, racial discrimination, oppression and gender imbalances. Think wars -- any war really. If the European Union has achieved one thing even the staunchest Euroskeptic could not wish away it is the fact that it has brought lasting peace to its member countries, initially starting out with France and West Germany.

1989’s communist youth leaders were no warlords

My very own and personal opinion is that I would have preferred that East and West would come together having had much more time to get to know each other first. I sometimes think that what had really happened was nothing more than transforming “good communists” into “good free marketers.” I am not convinced though whether any of the two scenarios is what the citizens of the eight former soviet satellite states plus the former GDR, by now all proud EU members, really wanted. What I recall 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall is above all the fact that I had the chance to meet face to face with the soon-to-be members of the leading political circles of four different countries, only that this soon-to-be became a “not any longer” after 1990. None of my partners appeared to me to be “totalitarian” or inclined to happily engage in nuclear warfare. A lot of momentum and intellectual capital was lost by not tolerating most former socialist youth activists to at least continue in another capacity, resulting in more or less declaring them outcasts.

Civil society can not be exported, imported or masterminded

I am not saying this because my father’s family hails from one of the Baltic Sea nations, but if I had been a citizen of any of the countries I was able to visit during 1985-1989 I would have felt rather intimidated by the approach of so many Western politicians telling me what would be best for me and my country! I am not saying I would have come to another conclusion, as after all civil liberties are what really matters -- but I probably would have preferred to achieve this according to my own methods and in my own time.