The Foreign Service Journal, November 2019

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2019 57 The View from Rostock Matt Weiller Rostock, German Democratic Republic “ H onecker has resigned!”These were the first words I heard on arrival at U.S. Embassy East Berlin inmid- October 1989. East Germany’s longtime leader step- ping down was a big deal. But evenmore momentous events were around the corner. As a German speaker and a Presidential Management Fellow at the U.S. Information Agency, I was chosen to run “American University Bookstore,” the U.S. government’s first (and last) book exhibit in the German Democratic Republic. The exhibit, con- sisting of more than 500 textbooks and other materials typical of American university bookstores, was held for two-plus weeks each at Humboldt University in East Berlin, Rostock University in the Baltic Sea port of Rostock, and at the University inMagdeburg in Saxony-Anhalt. The postwar order had been teetering since the summer. But the biggest change was just ahead—and I’d have a front-row seat. The exhibit kicked off at Humboldt with a mix of cautious optimism and state- sponsored surveillance. Our exhibit was assigned a govern- ment minder, a certain Frau Beckmann, a fluent speaker of English, Spanish and Amharic (she learned the latter two languages in Sandinista Nicaragua and Mengistu’s Ethiopia). A steady stream of enthusiastic students visited the exhibit, as did no small number of humorless, bulky gentlemen in bad suits—East German State Security (“Stasi”) agents. One evening, after the exhibit closed for the day, I accompanied an embassy colleague to a demonstration. Police and security per- sonnel outnumbered the protesters by at least two-to-one. A tenta- tive step toward democracy but not one threatening the regime, I wrongly concluded. The last weekend in October, I walked to the square in front of the Rotes Rathaus (Red City Hall) to observe another demonstra- tion. This one was attended by well over 20,000 people, venting about issues large and small. Security forces were present but sub- dued and greatly outnumbered. It reminded me of an oversized school board meeting—fledgling small “d” democracy in action in a peaceful and slightly messy way. Change was definitely afoot, but to what degree? The following weekendmore than a half million people turned out on both sides of the BerlinWall to protest the regime. The situation had changed exponentially within two weeks. But I still couldn’t imagine what was about to happen. On Nov. 7, the book exhibit moved on to Rostock. On the evening of Nov. 9, I was strolling through Central Rostock observ- ing what had become regular weekly protests against the regime. I chuckled as I listened to the protesters chanting “Stasi in die Produktion” (very loosely translated as “Stasi get a real job”). As they passedmy hotel, I went back tomy room. During that time, I received a call from the embassy cultural affairs officer, Peter Clausson, informing me that the BerlinWall was now open. Needless to say, the “American University Bookstore” was overshadowed by these events. As the local populace crowded trains and roadways toWest Berlin and Hamburg, the dozen or so students assigned to assist (monitor?) me andmy staff of two Americans were our primary contacts. Over endless rounds of cof- fee and cake, the students and other visitors to the exhibit spoke of their initial impressions of West Germany. Despite having spent their lives watching West German TV, they were uniformly struck by West Germanmoder- nity and effective public services (particularly the street lighting). While I rued having just missed the opportunity to be in Berlin on Nov. 9, I came to realize that very few Americans could attest to having been “in the field” in East Germany on that day. After Rostock, the exhibit moved on toMagdeburg. Attendance picked up, while surveillance trailed off. Exhibit visitors opened up to us in a way they hadn’t when we started in East Berlin. We watched similar rapid change unfold in Czechoslovakia, Romania and Bulgaria. While the East German leadership debated how to embrace historic change, there already was a palpable sense that change would overwhelm them in favor of German unification. Working with the U.S. Information Agency as a Presidential Manage- ment Fellow, Matt Weiller was in Rostock, East Germany, when the Berlin Wall fell. He joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1991 and is now deputy executive director for the Bureaus of Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs. While I rued having just missed the opportunity to be in Berlin on Nov. 9, I came to realize that very few Americans could attest to having been “in the field” in East Germany on that day. –Matt Weiller