From a picnic to the Berlin Wall: my 1989 summer of revolution
by Peter Millar from on (#4PBBD)
An award-winning foreign correspondent looks back on the human stories that helped bring down the Berlin Wall and East Germany's regime
It should have been a normal family chat in late midsummer in Berlin. Kerstin Falkner, 22, and her new partner, Andreas, eight years her elder, were sitting in the back of Metzer Eck, the corner bar run by her mother, Birbel, discussing where they might go for their holidays.
Only one thing was out of key: instead of joining in, Birbel was sitting in the corner next to me, trying to keep back her tears. She simultaneously feared and hoped for the same thing: that they might not be coming home.
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