The Curtain Rises: Eastern Europe, 1989 : VOICES : ‘This Can’t Happen, This Can’t Really Be True’

Sigrid--she declined to give her last name--a coach from Bernau, says of East Germany: “If I weren’t a single mother, I’d be out of here and in the West in a second. But I have a daughter who’s 9 and a 15-year-old son. Once my son finishes school this June, we’re leaving.

“I was in Dresden for a performance the night they opened the Wall. My friends and I saw it on TV and jumped in the car.

“You just can’t grasp what it’s like to live your life with someone telling you where you can or can’t go--what it’s like not to have the simple freedom to do what you want, when you want, to go wherever you want.

“I’m 37 years old, and I grew up knowing nothing but East Germany and knowing I would never know anything else of the world.

“When I stood in front of the Wall that night, I cried like a baby. I couldn’t stop.

“My dream, my real fantasy, is to go to America. I want to water ski in Florida.”