In the question of peace, people spoke up and demonstrated for peace and against the threat of war, the threat of atomic war.

Show me one place where a whole government is concerned with a book of a writer and is concerned enough to suppress it.

In the question of peace, people spoke up and demonstrated for peace and against the threat of war, the threat of atomic war.

I defended myself at the first opportunity I had, which was a meeting of writers in which I proved that Honecker had based his whole attack.

The Wall was the actual symbol of a defeat, of inferiority.

People in the East looked toward the West with longing. They would have liked to have the same comforts, the same goods, the same chances. They saw a system that demanded of them sacrifices with nothing but promises for the future.

We certainly hoped perestroika would win out and that there would be changes. We knew all along that socialism could flourish only with a certain amount of freedom and democracy.