Anett Stuth Leipzig, academy of visual arts (HGB)

I had passed my aptitude test for artistic photography in this room before and started to study there in September 1989. At the same time that was the beginning of the Monday demonstrations and the ‘Wende’, the disintegration of the GDR. In this room one could look at photos on the old light tub and e.g. put up demonstration pictures of that time on the closets. 

Like every Monday I drove from my place of residence in East Berlin to the HGB on 20 November. The wall had fallen. That was an incredible feeling.

At the weekend I had visited good friends in West Berlin. I knew that a lot would change. My “welcome money” I did not pick up and I felt embarrassed about the unrestrained consumption behaviour shown by most people from the East. The big euphoric feeling at the demonstration now received first flaws. As happy as I was about the incredible events, a sad sobriety at the same time overcame me as the common fights on the streets against the rigid GDR regime now ended up as a storm on the supermarkets in the West.

My photo for me is a symbol for the stagnation and poverty in the old GDR and the required changes as a result. The dust of history seems to lie in and on the picture. In the picture there is still a photo with reference to the mass demonstrations in October 1989. The champagne cork on the light tub is still a remnant of our exuberance and joy at that time. For me the fall of the wall and the end of the GDR represented an incredible release. Yet in this picture I also sense the pain of a loss not to be named.