Tears at work

I have never known such patient and happy ​“customers!”

In a Berlin bank brench East-Berliners pick up welcoming money.

© ullstein bild / imageBROKER / Norbert Michalke 

At that time I was retraining as a bank clerk, far away from the Wall in the district of Wilmersdorf. On the evening of November 9^th, I turned on the news as usual and heard talk of East German Trabant cars driving down Kurfürstendamm. But it wasn’t until the next morning, as I approached the bank branch at the crossing of Bundesallee and Badensche Strasse on the bus and saw the long queues of people waiting outside, that I realized the full extent of what had happened. Inside it was absolute chaos. It was clear that the banks would pay out the promised ​“welcome money,” but the board was still discussing how this was to be organized. To cut a long story short, I spent the following weeks handing out what felt like an endless stream of 100 Deutsche mark notes. I have never known such patient and happy ​“customers!” I have also never cried so much at work. Some recipients, young and old, would begin to weep when they held a 100 DM note in their hands – presumably for the first time. And this emotional reaction was contagious! On the first few days, local residents even brought out drinks for the many waiting people.