Twenty years ago, East Germany came in from the cold. Two former East German citizens living in Malta speak about their experiences of life under the old regime, their memories of events in 1989, and their perceptions of what happened when the dust settled.
Martin Schwarzer
Age: 29
Occupation: Student
Living through the aftermath of the Berlin Wall opening as a nine-year-old Eastern German child, it was as if the world was being coloured in for Martin Schwarzer.
Now a resident of San Ġwann, Mr Schwarzer comes from a small rural village called Müecheln, about 40 km from Leipzig. Nearby was the Leuna chemical factory, one of the biggest in Europe which left its indelible stain on the surrounding area.
"There were layers of dirt on the walls and all the façades and roofs were grey. Everything was grey."
From the age of six, Mr Schwarzer had gone to polytechnic school six days a week and was placed in a group that had to meet regularly to organise tasks like collecting paper for recycling. Then, on important days such as the East German national day, the children would participate in parades, waving balloons at the front for the glory of the nation.
"It was normal. We saw it on TV and our parents and teachers told us that we must do it. It didn't feel strange at all."
Mr Schwarzer's mother, supported by the State, stayed at home to raise her four children while his father worked in agriculture. There was a Russian airbase not far from his village and Mr Schwarzer vividly remembers tanks driving through the streets and the frequent roar of Russian fighter jets as they passed overhead while he played football with friends.
Before the wall came down, the children were taught that West Germany was "the bad country" where drugs, crime and other unwanted problems came from.
Mr Schwarzer has no clear recollection of the day the wall was opened. He says there were no celebrations in the streets of his village because the people were rural and not particularly political. But he can distinctly remember his first visit to the West. It came a few weeks after November 9, when nearly everyone from the village piled onto a bus and travelled around 200 km on an autobahn to a town called Badlauterderg in the Harz Mountains.
"More than anything from that trip, I remember the smell when I went into the big shopping halls and supermarkets. And that everything was so colourful and clean. Even the packaging was made to sell; in the East the products didn't have to be designed to catch the eye."
Although the lives of East Germans began changing dramatically from the day the wall was opened, East and West Germany were not formally unified until October 3, 1990, following almost a year of discussion and negotiation. How was the rapid social change seen through the eyes of a child?
"I remember when the school rhythm started to change. We didn't have to go to the meetings, we didn't have to wear uniforms, or have school on Saturdays so we could stay at home and watch Western television.
"All of a sudden, people with money bought different televisions, different cars, different clothes. They changed the currency as well, and everybody was given 100 deutschmarks to buy a bit.
"Then all the trading changed. All the old supermarkets were closed within half a year or so. Then new chains opened - it was like the Youtube video of the Lidl sale in Malta - everyone was queuing for these crazy things."
Mr Schwarzer says that although his childhood was happy before, he preferred life after the wall came down.
"As a child, the changes were really nice, because there was more to see and play with. The TV was completely different; before there were two channels, then there were 20. The cartoons had music. I had a bigger choice in almost everything you can imagine."
Despite being delighted with the transformations in his childhood, Mr Schwarzer admits his parents were apprehensive. Huge factories were closed en masse and lots of sports and social clubs related to the former regime or defunct companies ceased to exist.
Mr Schwarzer's mother could not afford to stay at home anymore and had to open her own physiotherapist practice, while his father was laid off and became a self-employed blacksmith.
"It became difficult really quickly. Not every East German definitely wanted change, many were swept along and they were unhappy again soon after. They had lots of choice but they couldn't afford to buy anything."
Nevertheless, Mr Schwarzer remained satisfied with the changes as he progressed through school. Naturally, the curriculum was altered and he recalls that some of his teachers, who retained their jobs after reunification, did not find it so easy to adapt.
"After 30 years or so in the system, some of them believed in everything. They felt defeated."
At the age of 21, Mr Schwarzer left East Germany and lived in Hanover, Frankfurt and Berlin before moving to Malta in 2007. Despite taking an overall positive view of the changes, he does not think he would be happy if he lived in East Germany because it would be difficult to find a job. A few of his friends are still living there, most of whom are unemployed and living with their parents.
The official unemployment rate last month in eastern Germany stood at 11.8 per cent compared with 6.6 per cent in western Germany. This relatively high rate, coupled with a perceived lack of opportunities, are seen as contributing to the rise of far-right sentiment in the region, particularly among young people. Far-right parties have won seats in regional parliaments across the east since reunification.
"Neo-Nazism is quite a common sentiment for young people, although I don't know anyone personally. It is like their protest culture, their way of being anti- system".
Meanwhile, parties descended from the old regime have done consistently well in elections in eastern Germany since reunification. Forty-one election districts out of 51 in eastern Germany gave Die Linke party (The Left) over 25 per cent of the vote in September's election.
Does it still feel like two different countries to Mr Schwarzer?
"When you walk through the cities, no, because they have spent a lot of money on refurbishing them. But in the mind there is a difference - easterners are not as open.
"The tearing down of the wall was very good, but I don't think they dealt properly with the consequences. It's fine to have a nice looking church or house, but if people are unemployed and getting drunk at home, what is the point?"
What did 1989 mean to Mr Schwarzer and his generation?
"It meant an open future, new possibilities. No one knew how it would end, but it was the first step to an open future. And I would say, overall, my generation is happy with a united Germany. Everybody enjoys travelling and having the freedom to do whatever they want."
Sirka Vella Facklam
Age: 41
Occupation: Managing director
The possibilities of life can seem endless through the eyes of a child. But growing up in Schwerin in the far north of communist East Germany, Sirka Vella Facklam knew life had its limitations.
Niemandsland (no man's land), the fortified area before the border with West Germany, started just behind her grandfather's summer house.
"It was the reality we faced - we could see where the world finished for us. That's how we grew up. That's what made the opening of the wall so unbelievable."
While these days Ms Vella Facklam is settled in Malta with her Maltese husband and two children, 20 years ago she was forbidden from travelling to the West and could only travel to other countries behind the Iron Curtain under strict supervision.
In 1989 she was working in Leipzig as a secretary for Kulturbund, the cultural organisation of East Germany, while waiting for a place on the popular German studies course at the university.
At the beginning of that revolutionary year, people were disillusioned with the Socialist Unity Party regime and were desperate for reforms, but Ms Vella Facklam says reunification was not on anyone's mind at that stage.
"What people really wanted was an end to the lies and control so we could just say what was on our minds. We wanted personal freedom. We wanted to be able to travel. I remember feeling like we didn't live on the surface of the world anymore."
There were other complaints as well, of course. Ms Vella Facklam says the towns were crumbling and, particularly in the area around Leipzig, there was a growing environmental movement angry that the chemical industry was causing heavy pollution and illnesses.
But while people may have been clamouring for reforms, Ms Vella Facklam says that it was not necessarily a question of wanting to live like the West Germans.
"Obviously it's hard to know to what extent people were brainwashed with ideology, but we didn't like everything that happened in the West, particu-larly things like unemployment because we didn't have that.
"Also the social insecurity - in East Germany you could be sure that someone would provide for you until you die - to a certain extent. So we didn't have that feeling that you basically have to provide for yourself."
Although the idea of reunification may have seemed far-fetched, momentum began to build throughout 1989 as the people, inspired by Mikhail Gorbachev's policies of Perestroika and Glasnost in the Soviet Union, became increasingly confident about expressing public frustration with the lack of reforms.
'Prayers for peace' had been held at the Nikolai Church in Leipzig every Monday evening since 1982, attracting Christians who were unable to publicly express their political dissatisfaction.
Ms Vella Facklam did not attend the prayers as she had been raised atheist, but throughout 1989 the peaceful meetings gradually attracted more people, not only devout Christians. "They became like a roof under which people could speak openly."
After prayers on September 4, a large demonstration began and eventually filled the nearby Karl Marx Square. Week by week protesters at the Monday demonstrations increased in number, and Ms Vella Facklam joined them for the first time on October 2.
"On that day I still had a feeling that it was quite a dangerous thing to do, that there was little chance to change something."
Then, on October 9, two days after East Germany's 40th anniversary celebrations, more than 70,000 people gathered out of a population of 500,000 in Leipzig, chanting "Wir sind das Volk!" (we are the people).
"October 9 is the day imprinted in my memory, when I had the feeling that changes were possible. But I don't think revolution was on our minds at that point - to change the political culture was the foremost thing."
Nevertheless, momentum continued to build across the communist state with demonstrations in all the major towns and cities, until the Berlin Wall was eventually opened on November 9.
Like all Germans above a certain age, Ms Vella Facklam remembers the day vividly - she was back at her parents' home in Schwerin because she was sick and she watched events unfold live on East German TV.
"It was complete disbelief; it took a long, long time to sink in. I think we would have been happy if we could have just travelled, got a visa. We could not believe that we could visit West Germany. Nobody thought the wall coming down was possible."
Two weeks later she went with her parents and sister on a trip to Hamburg in the West.
"It was a different world - like going to Barbieland. Everything seemed polished and perfect. At that time everyone had open arms, as soon as they noticed you were East German their faces lit up."
In the early days, Ms Vella Facklam says people were so overwhelmed that they did not think with any perspective. The Monday demonstrations continued in Leipzig and by the end of November people began calling for reunification with chants of "Wir sind ein Volk" (we are one people). It was at that point that Ms Vella Facklam stopped attending.
"People were thinking rich West Germany was coming to shower us with the deutschmark and we will live in paradise forever like the West Germans. My personal hopes were for reforms, although nobody really knew how bad the East German economy was because we were always told it was strong."
She says the "other face" of capitalism quickly infiltrated Leipzig with "Western cowboys" trying to impress and make easy money, which made her fearful that East Germany would be overrun.
Overall, is she happy with the way things turned out?
"Personally, I have to say it was the best thing that could have happened. I would not be in Malta. I would not have been able to graduate the way I would have liked. But there are a lot of 'buts'. I did have the feeling that in the beginning, a lot of things that built up our East German identity were thrown in the dustbin.
"It was our life for 40 years. We had some nice memories and also realised that not everything was good in West Germany, but it was like you were not allowed to say such things. We had to prove ourselves all the time. It led to a kind of identity crisis, particularly for people who really tried to bring reforms to eastern Germany."
Does she feel that she belongs in western Germany?
"They are always saying 'now goes together what belongs together', but even now when I go to the western side of Germany it is not my home country. I can't say I feel at home there, even with the people. I still feel very different."
That said, Ms Vella Facklam is proud to see Angela Merkel, an East German woman, as Chancellor of a united Germany.
"It is proof that things do move together in certain ways," she says.
The bricks in the wall
May 8, 1945: World War II is over and Berlin is broken up into four sectors: the American, British, French in the west, and the Soviets in the east.
June 30, 1946: The Soviet military administration prompts the safeguarding of the divisive line between East and West Germany.
June 24, 1948: The Berlin blockade begins, ending 11 months later.
May 24, 1949: Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) is founded.
October 7, 1949: German Democratic Republic (East Germany) is founded.
April 1, 1952: Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov suggests a system of passes for visits of West Berlin residents to the east.
May 26, 1952: The border between East and West Germany is closed.
November 14, 1953: The Western powers abandon the Interzonenpass, the Soviet Union follows suit but East German citizens still need permission to cross to the west. Breaching it would be punishable by up to three years in prison.
August 13, 1961: Workers from East Germany and Russia seal off the border with barbed wire and light fencing that eventually became a complex series of wall, fortified fences, gun positions and watchtowers heavily guarded and patrolled. The Berlin Wall was 155 km-long and the average height of the concrete wall was 3.6 metres.
August 14, 1961: Brandenburg Gate is closed.
August 26, 1961: All crossing points are closed for West Berlin citizens.
June 1962: Building starts on a second wall to prevent escapes to the west.
August 17, 1962: Peter Fechter, 18, a bricklayer from East Berlin, is shot and left to bleed to death in full view of western media.
December 17, 1963: West Berlin citizens are allowed to visit relatives in East Berlin for the first time in over two years.
May 1972: Transit agreement is reached permitting East German citizens to visit the west in cases of family emergency.
May 1973: East and West Germany establish formal diplomatic ties.
1975-1976: Construction of the infamous Stutzwandelement UL 12.11 wall begins. It includes a touch-sensitive, self-firing fence.
June 12, 1987: President Ronald Reagan visits Berlin and urges Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.
February 6, 1989: Chris Gueffroy is the last person to be killed trying to cross the wall.
August 19, 1989: Hungarian border guards unlock a frontier gate at a joint Hungarian-Austrian friendship picnic, allowing around 13,000 East Germans to flee into Austria.
October 18, 1989: East German leader Erich Honecker resigns and is replaced by Egon Krenz. Earlier that year, Honecker had said the Berlin Wall would exist for "100 more years".
November 4, 1989: About one million people attend a pro-democracy demonstration in East Berlin's main square.
November 9, 1989: Before a news conference, politburo spokesman Günter Schabowski is given a note saying the people of East Berlin would be allowed to cross the border with permission, but was not given any further instructions on how to handle this information. To a question asking when the measure would come into place, he mistakenly replied, "As far as I know effective immediately, without delay". A West German TV channel says East Germany had opened its borders to everyone. East Germans start to gather at the wall, insisting the gates be opened immediately. At a loss, the guards call their superiors but nobody issues orders to use force. The soldiers are unable to control the huge crowd and they finally give in. Just before midnight, the Berlin Wall is opened. Thousands of East Berliners cross into West Berlin as border guards stand by. People begin tearing down the wall. Within days, the East German government resigns.
December 22, 1989: Brandenburg Gate is opened.
October 3, 1990: Germany is formally reunited.