INTERVIEW
"I remember the jubilant crowd with upsetting moments of reunion." Matthias Fekl, former Secretary of State for Foreign Trade and Ephemeral Minister of the Interior under François Hollande, lived in Germany when the wall fell. At the time, he was only 12 years old and lived in West Berlin with his parents. At the microphone of Europe 1, the socialist remembers life in the divided capital, before the crucial night of 9 November 1989.
"The wall was a paradox when you lived on the right side in West Berlin," says Matthias Feckl. "It had a festive side with tags and graffiti, it was almost a work of art, it was also a place to go for a family walk, play because it was far from cars "he continues.
On the other side...
"And then, paradoxically, it was the symbol of a repression of great violence." On the other side of this wall of concrete of 3.60 meters high, extends a totalitarian regime, led by the USSR, and framed with an iron fist by the Stasi, the political police service. "There were platforms on the west side that could be climbed to see the other side, they had been arranged for tourists, and you could see what the wall really was: first a wall on the west side, then the the band of death ', that is to say, a wasteland mined with control towers everywhere, and police officers who shot everyone who passed by, then there was another wall. were walled on the facades of the buildings so that we can not run away, "says Matthias Feckl.
"I remember newspapers running around the city, when someone was fleeing the east and being shot cold in the back."
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November 9, a date to cherish
"In 1989, we were in jubilation and hope, a time when the Europeans said to themselves: we must live with dignity, freely, they have tried to build that. extreme right, the crisis and terrorism that hit very hard, "laments the regional councilor. "More than ever, we must celebrate the love of freedom represented on November 9 and the days that followed," concludes Matthias Feckl.