Berlin (AFP)

At the time of the first derby in the Bundesliga, football fans of the German capital will start on Saturday a new page in their history: to create yet another rivalry or perpetuate the fraternal spirit of the Reunification?

"It will be a very special match, especially 30 years after the fall of the Wall," says 65-year-old Elmar Werner, who has been a supporter since 1979 of the Union, an East Berlin club whose stands were home to opponents of the communist regime.

And if the stands of the Union will host a "Berlin sees red!" the supporters of Hertha, the big Western club dressed in blue, the provocation should stop there.

Berlin's history does not resemble that of Liverpool, Glasgow, Rome or Istanbul, football lands long known for their stormy and even hateful derbys.

"Before the fall of the Wall, we stood together and today is still the case, we have nothing against the Hertha," says Elmar Werner, for whom this jubilee will be "a great opportunity for unity ".

Another 60-year-old "unionist", Andreas Cramer agrees: "At the time, some fans of the Union would even support the Hertha, especially when playing in European Cup (...) But when the Wall fell, we became competitors ".

- Huge party -

Older fans still remember the very first friendly meeting, Hertha-Union, a huge popular party in January 1990, two and a half months after the opening of the Wall.

The two teams then played each other four times in the second division in 2010/2011 and 2012/2013.

East Berlin, however, had its footballing and political rivalry, but it opposed the Union to Dynamo, the all-powerful team sponsored by the dreaded Stasi, the secret police of the East German regime.

In the derbies against Dynamo - now fallen into the fourth division - the Union's public chanted "the wall must disappear" when the opposing players formed the wall on free kicks.

Thirty years later, supporters of Hertha and the Union, who have fraternized so much during the partition of the city, wonder what face will take their confrontation in the years to come.

"I was so happy when they climbed into the first division" at the end of last season, rejoices Manon Düring, a 55-year-old Hertha fan. "I grew up with the Wall, Berlin has so much to offer, but the city needs a strong football culture, a chance to get rid of this east-west political divide and unify the city." , she pleads.

- Voluntary reconstruction -

"I do not think that the derby will become unhealthy, predicts Daniel Rossbach, 29, also a fan of the Union, but there will be a rivalry ...".

For Timo Dobbert, a supporter of Hertha, it is a chance to create a different culture, as Berlin has done so well in other areas than sport: "I think it would be great if Berlin was the only city in Europe where two top division clubs and their fans were in solidarity, "he says.

"Berlin, Hertha and the Union could become the living symbol of the history of this city, which was divided and reunited, something you would not find anywhere else."

Saturday's match will be played in the small and picturesque Union Stadium, the Alten Försterei, where 22,000 spectators make more noise than 80,000 in many stadiums. The enclosure, it is true, belongs to them a little: they volunteered 140.000 hours of work for its reconstruction in 2008/2009.

The future of the derby will also depend, and especially, that of the Union Berlin, which is already at the bottom of the rankings and will have to fight to stay among the elite.

Thirty years after the fall of the Wall, the small club is the only one of the former GDR to evolve into the first division. Only two survive in the second division: Dynamo Dresden and Aue. Others have plunged into the lower divisions, lack of economic structure to support them and retain the best players.

The RB Leipzig is an exception, but it was founded 20 years after the fall of the Wall, with money from Red Bull.

© 2019 AFP