Chapter 406: Final - (Part 2)

“That sounds like a high-stakes gamble, but you made the right bet,” Monica said.

“Yes,” Werner admitted. “When I was under investigation in 1990, over twenty former political prisoners testified on my behalf. The West German Government also confirmed that I had provided valuable intelligence. So, I wasn’t purged. Instead, I became ‘a businessman who contributed to unification.'”

Monica scribbled quickly in her notebook, then asked, “What did you do after the Wall came down?”

“I helped the East German workers,” Werner said. “West German corporations wanted to acquire East German factories, but they didn’t understand the situation in East Germany or how to negotiate with the workers. The workers were furious and felt the West Germans were there to plunder.”

“So I acted as a middleman,” he said. “I understood the factories in East Germany, I knew what the workers wanted, and I also understood West German business practices. I helped West German companies devise acquisition plans and helped the East German workers secure fair compensation and job placements.”

“Did you profit from this?” Monica asked bluntly.

“Of course,” Werner answered without hesitation. “I took commissions, shares, and distribution rights. But it was all legal business income. Besides, I used a large portion of the money I made to establish a charitable foundation to take over the kindergartens, clinics, and convalescent homes that West German corporations had stripped away.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because I’m an East German,” Werner said. “I knew what those facilities meant to the workers. They weren’t just kindergartens and clinics; they were a way of life, their community. If all of that was gone, they would feel completely abandoned.”

Monica looked at him, her expression complex. “You’re a man of contradictions, Mr. Werner. On the one hand, you operate on the Black Market and walk in a gray area. On the other, you help political prisoners and defend the interests of the workers.”

“I’m not a man of contradictions,” Werner said. “I just wanted a better life. Under that regime, if you wanted to live a little better, you had to operate in the gray areas. But that doesn’t mean you have to abandon your conscience.”

“I’ve done many things in the gray, and some in the black,” he said, looking at Monica. “But I’ve never harmed an innocent person, nor have I ever betrayed someone who trusted me.”

“That’s how I survived,” Werner said. “I’m no saint, but I’m no villain, either. I was just a man trying to survive in the cracks.”

Monica set down her pen and turned off the tape recorder. She lit a cigarette, and a light haze of smoke began to fill the office.

“I want to know,” Monica said, taking a drag from her cigarette, “what are your thoughts on East Germany?”

Werner was silent for a long moment. He stood, walked over to the bookshelf, and picked up the piece of the Wall under its glass dome.

“A disappearing country,” he said. “Forty-one years of history, the lives of tens of millions, all about to be erased.”

“Unification is a good thing,” Monica said.

“Of course it is,” Werner said, putting the piece of the Wall back. “But that doesn’t mean East Germany was worthless. During those forty-one years, tens of millions of people were born, grew up, worked, married, had children, and grew old there. Their lives were real. Their memories are real.”

“But now, all of that is being erased.” He turned to face Monica. “East German factories are closing, its companies are being bought by West Germany, its currency has been abolished, its system overturned. Even the street names are changing—Karl Marx Street has reverted to Frankfurt Street, and Lenin Square has gone back to being United Square.”

“It’s de-East-Germanization,” Monica said.

“I know,” Werner said. “But it’s also erasing memory. Perhaps decades from now, when people think of East Germany, they’ll only remember ‘division’ and the ‘Berlin Wall.’ They won’t remember the ordinary people who lived in that country.”

“The workers who woke up at six in the morning to catch the metro to work, the housewives who lined up at shops to buy butter, the children who sang at Young Pioneer rallies—they all truly existed. They aren’t numbers in a history book or symbols in political propaganda. They were living, breathing people, with their own joys and sorrows, dreams and disappointments.”

“In the weeks after the Berlin Wall was opened, the streets of East Berlin were flooded with crowds pouring into West Berlin,” Werner said. “They went to West German department stores to look at the dazzling array of products. One man burst into tears in front of a fruit stand because it was the first time in his life he’d ever seen so many bananas.”

“These small details made me realize just how much East Germans had lost over the past forty years. It wasn’t just material poverty, but a poverty of choice,” Werner said. “In East Germany, your life’s trajectory was practically planned out for you: school, work, marriage, retirement. Your house was assigned, your job was arranged, even your vacations were organized. Without choice, there is no freedom.”

“But at the same time,” he added, his tone shifting, “that kind of life, one without choices, also gave people a sense of security. You didn’t have to worry about unemployment, getting sick, or being left alone in your old age.”

“After the Wall came down, those guarantees vanished,” Werner said. “Once the Two Germanys merged, the unemployment rate in East Germany skyrocketed. Many factories shut down, and many people were laid off. I knew an engineer who was the technical lead at a state-owned factory in East Germany. After unification, the factory was acquired, and he was laid off for being too old. It’s hard for a fifty-year-old man to find a new job, so he ended up having to work at McDonald’s. He told me he’d rather go back to East Germany. At least there, he was an engineer with dignity.”