and THILO FOLESKY (photos)
Ulrich Miethkes altes Leben steckt in einer blauen Plastiktüte von Tchibo. Mit seiner linken Hand umklammert der 57-Jährige den Griff der Tüte. Die Uniform darin - sie ist die Montur eines Hauptmanns der Staatssicherheit, zuständig für die Passkontrolle am Grenzübergang Drewitz.
Vor 17 Jahren endete Miethkes altes Leben schlagartig. Mit der Wende wurde der Passkontrolleur der DDR nicht mehr gebraucht. 20 Jahre lang hatte er sich die Pässe der Reisenden aus West-Berlin und der Bundesrepublik zeigen lassen. Er war ein pflichtbewusster Befehlsempfänger an Europas damals größtem Grenzübergang. "Ich hatte ein aufregendes, a privileged life, "he said. In November 1989, was suddenly all over." Everything changed. "And for him it was now no longer very good.
Now, after nearly two decades, is Miethke . back here in Drewitz From the huge border crossing has remained a crumbling watchtower (see box) The massive check-in areas -. disappeared without a trace Where once the average of 2500 vehicles per day on their list sits today, the Germany-headquartered Ebay
Miethke has a firm handshake, his face with deep lines, his deep blue Piercing eyes look. Without further ado, he says he would put on his old uniform again. Here too, the old border. "We have harassed anyone, even if today sometimes claimed otherwise," he justified. Miethke , one of the many incorrigible, who wants to hear nothing of the terror, the spread, he and his colleagues.
glorified ideologically In his memory, the German-German border to the playground of amusing anecdotes. In a conversational tone, he said that he had always adhered to the principle of his grandmother: Go to reason with the people around, then the nice to Dir
The sentiment of the grandmother Miethke twisted into a terrible moral corruption. If he controlled a coach, he put forward on the dashboard of his service cap off - with the inside facing up. "When I came back, were a few necrotic or some chocolate in his cap." Whether the small gifts have accelerated the clearance? "You have, at least not adversely affected," he says and smiles. Thus speaks one of the power, gave the Stasi uniforms, enjoying - quite obviously.
Miethke led a comfortable life, he earned 2,000 marks plus Sunday premium, drove a Trabant Deluxe from Potsdam to the layer at the border.
waited there almost every day celebrities to continue their journey, which he knew from the radio or the television Western. He checked Walter Momper and Eberhard Diepgen, Freddy Quinn and Mr. Trude.
Once the tour bus and the Rolling Stones on the road in the forest stage. "At some point it was said, as a Mr. Michael Jagger sitting in the bus." Miethke was excited, he met his idol. Unfortunately, says Miethke wrote the Stones frontman no autographs.
Ulrich Miethke , der Grenzgänger. Als Hauptmann verteidigte er ein System, das seinen Bürgern Stones-Platten nicht erlaubte. Er selbst aber hatte das Privileg, die britischen Musiker um Autogramme zu bitten. Paradox finde er das nicht. Sagt er. War es die Nähe zur Macht, die ihn faszinierte, die ihn vielleicht sogar verführte? Weil Schlagersänger Christian Anders ("Es fährt ein Zug nach Nirgendwo") keine Autogramme geben wollte, ignorierten die Grenzer ihn. "Wir taten so, als würden wir nicht wissen, wer er ist. Das hat ihn gekränkt", feixt Miethke . Und plötzlich ist da Häme. Und die verrät, dass der sanft-freundliche Miethke probably differently. On the day of reunification, his unit was disbanded. He signed with Telekom to - and was also settled there. Also as a security guard he had no luck. He has been unemployed get jobs sometimes in a department store.
If he had fled, then on a Sunday
He has still not satisfied, as he stands as this, the Tchibo bag under control.
The logo of the Great Western Coffee Group on the bag and the old secret police uniforms in it. Two worlds, between which also moves the Miethke life. Does he feel a responsibility for the inhumane border policies of the East German regime? "No," he replied, without thinking twice. "So that was just then." Then he tells of the man who managed to escape because he was running next to a truck here and the border guards can not see him on the other side of the vehicle could.
He speaks loud and tells the story as it was a personal defeat for him. "The man has told a newspaper his flight, which then reported it. We have for months looking for him because we thought so, he would perhaps as a transit traveler back across the border."
A Republic for Refugees has it, the frontiersman, tricked. Somehow annoyed Miethke about today.
Whether he was ever even tried to pile up in the West? "No, what I had to make since? I should have probably found a job."
And if he had wanted to flee, as he would have done it?
"Then, when traffic was dense. Return travel. There was not controlled as precisely that just did not." He pauses for a moment, then says: "I would have fled on a Sunday evening."
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