Margit Emmrich Bräuningshof near Erlangen . Salmon Dinner

This fish photo holds many memories. It was no masterpiece, my whole salmon stuffed with herbs. This was due to the fact that I was yet to become adept at using my new microwave. But we have something to celebrate, sitting outside, toasting the future. In my arms is tiny baby Peter. My younger brother has just come back from Gießen, where he and his family have reported to a refugee camp as new West German citizens. He reports excitedly of hundreds of other GDR citizens that he met there. They waded through the Neusiedler See or arrived in West Germany by other means via Hungary and Austria, each with a story to tell.

I will never forget his comment: “These are historic times in which we are living. Something is happening.”