“It was all very well thought out”

How and via which channels do people in Halle-Neustadt communicate? The author Dr. Anna-Lena Wenzel followed up on her research. At the same time, several interviews with the residents of the district who moved in and out were created. Tom Zimmermann (born in 1967) had spent more than 20 years in Neustadt. He has lived in Potsdam since 1996, where he now works as a restorer. A conversation about growing up in Ha-Neu as well as the chances and deprivations of the Wende.  

Anna-Lena Wenzel: Did you grow up in Halle-Neustadt?  

Tom Zimmermann: We moved to Neustadt in 1968 when the elevated road to Neustadt was built and our house was demolished. The people were glad that they could live in new buildings on the green field – it was warm, the water came out of the tap and didn’t dripping through the roof and the rent was ridiculous. In Halle-Neustadt there were short distances, there was good care everywhere: dentist, doctors, that was all around. Urban was all very well thought out.

where did you live 

We lived in WW II (residential complex) at the south park. A lot was still being built at the time, there were many excavation pits and also large mounds of earth where you could climb around, which was like a big adventure playground. That was really cool for kids. Also because the paths were very short. The kindergarten was directly opposite the school was even closer. After school you could go to the yard. You first dug in the box and later got up with the buddiesmet a bank. There was also a youth club, two or three farms on. At school, professional guidance was done pretty specifically, and that was called careers. From the 5th or 6th grade, everyone was asked what he or she would like to become at the beginning of the school year. Anyone who had no idea was a potential candidate to be put in the army or to Leuna-Buna. They needed tons of people. Neustadt was built as a chemical worker city.

Did your parents also work in chemistry?

My mother was a gymnastics trainer. And my father was a surveyor and cartographer who worked in a planning office in town. After reunification, my mother immediately became unemployed. She then took two or three years ABM measures. In 1991 my father became self-employed with a surveying office. In GDR times, my father always got involved and got involved, for example they made a collection of raw materials and collected waste paper and such. There were also house collectives, some of which were prescribed and partly filled with life. 

I can imagine that the relationship with the state was very strongly influenced by whether the parents were part of it or whether it was tamed by him.

That wasn’t an issue for us. I can remember that I was maybe twelve, that two or three people rang and stood in front of the door and wanted to know something about neighbors from the house. That was probably the Stasi. If you grow up in the dictatorship, you’re used to it, you don’t think much about it. There was this institution of the sectional agent who had his quarters as a police officer and was responsible for five blocks or so. He always looked at you or everyone. 

Sounds like a suspicious basic atmosphere. 

Yes, of course, everyone was aware that a certain degree of surveillance was part of a dictatorship. You’ve already thought about who you tell which, even at school.

And at the same time, public offers have been used. 

Yes, that’s not necessarily a contradiction. In this country everything came from these public offers, especially from the companies. This also had an enlightened approach, they wanted to control people and know what they are dealing with and influence it. In Leuna and Buna it was an all-round supply, there were huge clubhouses. There were tons of culture and all these things offered. That’s also the reason why the clear-cut after reunification hit here: For many people, not only the work was gone, but also everything else – the holiday opportunities, the work colleagues, the leisure activities, everything. 

How was the mood after the turn?

You have to keep in mind how all this change was. Everything was different: taxes, health insurance, insurance, the way you find a job, how you get paid. People didn’t know that. That was a blatant break. But my wife and I, we always say, for us, the turning point has been the happiness of our lives. We were in the early 20s and still young enough to be able to use it all. I didn’t see that as a loss. 

How did your life path continue? 

I did an apprenticeship as a plasterer after the 10th grade and then went to the army. In 1988/89 I occupied and renovated a house in the old town on the market. I moved in there in the spring of 1989 and lived there until 1995. In the GDR era we saved several houses that were actually supposed to be demolished. In 1995, my wife and I moved back to Halle-Neustadt for a good year in my parents’ apartment.

If you watch Thomas Heise’s films about Neustadt in the 1990s, that’s really sad. How do you remember that? 

We didn’t feel that way. We saw the turning point as an opportunity, you could suddenly go out into the world – I was able to start my own business! I could never have done that. 

Was the vacancy noticeable? 

yes At the same time, this segregation set in. The garbage driver used to live next to the math professor, now those who could afford it moved away. 

Does the term baseball bats tell you anything? I know people who moved away from Neustadt after 1990 because it was too dangerous for them. 

I was 22 years old at the turn of the day, when we were already getting through with our adult. I think that was more about people who just got into puberty and growing up. The whole family environment is often broken. The parents were busy finding their way around somehow and could hardly offer their children any orientation.  

Are you still in contact with Ha-Neu? 

We still do class reunions every five years. A third to half still live in Halle or in the surrounding area, there are still some in Neustadt, some even in the houses where they grew up. Actually, they all make a very fiddle impression and are relatively optimistic. They survived the 1990s’ faults quite well.  

All interviews are here:
our-haneu.de/entertainment request

The results of the research by Anna-Lena Wenzel on communication channels in Halle-Neustadt will be published online in August in the Südpark-Magazine:

amsüdpark.de


“It was all very well thought out”