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Dreams of New Beginnings

September 14, 2015

A photo of a Rev. Joachim Gauck speaking in a church in Rostock, East Germany, the winter of 1989-1990, between the Fall of the Wall and Reunification. What’s become of those in the photo a quarter of a century on?

https://p.dw.com/p/1GNLu
Image: NDR

It was just a brief moment inside a church, captured in black and white. But this instant represents a time when suddenly everything seemed possible. A pastor is at a microphone speaking to hundreds of people sitting and standing around him at the altar. The photo was taken in St Mary’s church in Rostock at a time when the future of East Germany was uncertain. The people in the church were listening to Joachim Gauck – a man who today, 25 years later, is the president of Germany.

Everyone in Germany knows the story of his journey from pastor to president. Thinking back on that winter, Gauck says that they were the greatest and most moving hours and days of his life. But who and where are the others now, those who sat listening to Rev. Gauck? We meet Ruth, her schoolmate Sören and a former shipyard worker Werner and find out what they have to say about that period of change and transition. What dreams did they have for themselves and for East Germany, and what has become of them? This report brings to life the stories of people in the picture and reunites them a quarter of a century later.

08.09.2015 DW Doku Träume des Aufbruchs 2
“Today it’s difficult to explain to people why that fear was so powerful.” (Joachim Gauck)Image: NDR



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