Ingo Schulze - New Lives

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273. Play by Christoph Hein (1944–). Johann Nepomuk Nestroy (1801–1869), Austrian playwright, Freiheit in Krähwinkel [Freedom in Gotham] (1849).

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274. Painter, cofounder of the New Forum, one of the best-known civil rights advocates.

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275. Albert Ebert (1906–1976), a master of small-format paintings and graphic works.

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276. They could have stored their purchases in the car.

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277. Applicants for exit visas to leave the GDR.

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278. They had driven through Leipzig on the way from Halle back to Altenburg.

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279. The fortieth anniversary of the founding of the GDR.

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280. At the end of September, Egon Krenz, chairman of the National Defense Council of the GDR and Erich Honecker’s crown prince, had visited China and congratulated our Chinese comrades on having “restored order and security by deploying armed force.”

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281. A neighborhood in Leipzig.

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282. Other demonstrators claim that the slogan was, “March with us!”

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283. It is possible that this slogan came from the demonstrations of ’68. “Don’t just stand there, make a fuss, come on friend, join with us!” (Suggestion by N. H.)

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284. He means the imprint left by the cap.

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285. The name in this passage appears to be T.’s invention. He uses it both in his letter about his army days (April 23, 1990) and in his story “Hundred-year Summer.” Surely no coincidence.

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286. Whether intentionally or not, T. says nothing about the fact that the confrontation between the demonstrators and the police that day came to a head and ended in violence. For a more precise account of what occurred later, cf. Martin Jankowski, Rabet oder Das Verschwinden einer Himmelsrichtung [Rabet, or the disappearance of a point of the compass], p. 155 ff., including, among other things, why and under what circumstances the chant of “We are the people” was first taken up at this same demonstration.

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287. Oct. 3, 1989.

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288. Saturday, Oct. 7th.

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289. It is possible that T. means the Stabat Mater by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710–36).

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290. Now Olbricht Platz.

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291. Now Albert Platz.

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292. Now Stauffenberg Allee.

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293. Johann Ziehlke, Dresden Demonstrators (Radebeul, 1990), pp. 9–23; cf. also Eckhard Bahr, Sieben Tage im Oktober [Seven days in October] (Leipzig, 1990), pp. 80–88.

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294. Now Strassburger Platz.

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295. A somewhat remarkable confession in a letter to a woman who was to become his fiancée.

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296. On May 22, 1990, the Democratic People’s Republic of Yemen (South Yemen) united with the Arab Republic of Yemen (North Yemen).

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297. This patriarchal attitude is said to have been typical of T. in his later enterprises as well.

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298. Now the Augustus Bridge.

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299. It’s remarkable that in May 1990, T. can still call Michaela’s brave conduct “madness.”

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300. And here as well, one would like to know: Why?

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301. The entrance to the Gewandhaus is at ground level; there are no steps.

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302. An appeal made by the “Leipzig Six” (the secretaries of the district leadership of the Socialist Unity Party, Kurt Meyer, Jochen Pommert, Roland Wötzel; the conductor Kurt Masur; the theologian Peter Zimmermann; and the cabaret artist Bernd-Lutz Lange): “We all need a free exchange of opinions about the continued direction of socialism in our country.” The appeal, which was read by Masur, ended with: “Our urgent plea is that you act with prudence so that peaceful dialogue can be possible.”

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303. T. heard the slogan a week after it was first chanted.

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304. A description easily identified as an exaggeration.

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305. Jörg Schröder vigorously disputes T.’s description of this event — and of those that follow. They had neither said anything derogatory about T.’s articles, nor, as T. would later repeatedly claim, had they asked him flat out to give back his share. They had merely reminded T. that his share of the newspaper had been given to him gratis. And he should keep that in mind, in case he no longer wished to work together with them.

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306. This idea, which will increasingly take up more room in his thoughts, already stands in contradiction to T.’s assurance to Johann that his sole purpose is to save the Weekly.

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307. In the original: “He who obeys no law is one in power with him who has no law.”

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308. T. is presumably using this gesture to denounce Jonas as a “Lenin monument.”

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309. It is difficult to discover any logic in T.’s actions. Previously in this same letter he claimed he had now found reasons “why I don’t want to be part of it all.”

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310. Crossed out: “We were just introduced.”

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311. It was merely a lectern, not a pulpit.

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312. Usually the two telephoned each other.

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313. At the time T. and V. T. were in Monte Carlo.

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314. T. never mentioned in his letters to Johann and N. H. that he had moved out of the apartment with Michaela and Robert and was now subletting a room from Cornelia and Massimo until the building C. von Barrista had bought was fully renovated.

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315. This characterization of Nikolai differs substantially from the version T. offered N. H.

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316. This statement marks T.’s break with the Weekly and the beginning of his dubious entrepreneurial career. T.’s claim that he had no other choice cannot be left unchallenged. Jörg Schröder: “I finally yielded to Enrico’s dogged persistence and, despite my wife’s opposition, was prepared to join with him in founding a free paper. But I was unwilling and unable to agree to Enrico’s stipulation that he alone would have ultimate decision-making power over this new publication.”

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317. Given this statement, one wonders if the “hardware people” had in fact ever intended to buy the building, as C. von Barrista claimed.

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318. World Soccer Cup in Italy (June 8 to August 8, 1990). Germany’s first game was on June 10th against Yugoslavia, which Germany won 4 to 1.

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319. T. fails to mention that Michaela had gone to Leipzig alone.

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320. T.’s relationship with the civil rights movement remains unpredictable and enigmatic.

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321. A Free German Youth shirt. Egon Krenz was for a long time the first secretary of the central committee of the Free German Youth.

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322. One was allowed to place telephone calls to West Berlin from East Berlin.

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323. It is rather improbable that T. wrote this long letter in just one single morning.

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324. This letter suggests that Johann Ziehlke had paid a visit to Altenburg. How the situation to which T. refers actually came about cannot be determined.

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325. Presumably Michaela found some of the carbon copies T. had made of his letters to N. H.