Two days prior to the actual 35th fall of the Berlin Wall anniversary, our last Wendegeschichten guest was Gisela Kallenbach.
We met because of our connection to Kosovo. Gisela Kallenbach was International Mayor within the UN mission, in the city of Peja, right after the war. Raised in the GDR, she was involved in the Peaceful Revolution in Leipzig 1989, which is why she was actively involved as contemporary witness in the Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship (“Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur”).
After the Reunification of East- and West-Germany, she was largely responsible for setting up the new city administration in Leipzig for over a decade. Following her work in Kosovo, she embarked on a political career, first as an MEP in the Greens/European Free Alliance parliamentary group and then as a member of the Saxon State Parlament (Alliance 90/The Greens BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN).
She told us what it was like to refuse playing along with the GDR system, how she got involved as an environmental activist in the early 1980s, and that the Peaceful Revolution would never have been possible without the Solidarnosc movement in Poland, “Charta 77” in what was then called Czechoslovakia, Gorbatschow’s policy, and the Protestant Church in particular.
This concludes our 2024 Wendegeschichten series. Given the demand for candid discussion and debate that has been expressed throughout the events, we are pretty sure that something similar will follow next year. TBA.
*Kindly note that the Wendegeschichten are held in German. Too much would get lost in translation.
