Christoph Wilde: Hello Harald, the following picture from the archive shows the mass demonstration which took place on Alexanderplatz on 4 November 1989.
Where did you take it?
Harald Hauswald: The photo was taken from the café of the television tower, it was a bit difficult to shoot through its coated double-glazed windows.
CW: What did it feel like assisting this event?
HH: It was oddly uplifting to see so many people gathered for the first non-state-run demonstration since the uprising on 17 June 1953.
CW: Did you realize the effect the mass demonstration would have?
HH: I would never have thought that this photo would one day be displayed at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (it is part of the exhibition 'Ostzeit - Stories from a vanished country'). Many people had the vague hope that the GDR government would implement timid reforms but I don't think anybody predicted that we would all be given passports only a couple of days later.
CW: Thank you, Harald.
