The Road of Recollection
Die Welt, October 14, 2009
Berlin – The “Spree Bogen” in Alt-Moabit yesterday witnessed the unveiling of sculptor Rolf Biebl’s monument “We are the People” in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the peaceful revolution in the German Democratic Republic. It has been donated by the Bavarian entrepreneur Ernst Freiberger.
Berlin – The “Spree Bogen” in Alt-Moabit yesterday witnessed the unveiling of sculptor Rolf Biebl’s monument “We are the People” in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the peaceful revolution in the German Democratic Republic. It has been donated by the Bavarian entrepreneur Ernst Freiberger.
The commemorative speech was delivered by the former civil rights activist Joachim Gauck, who was also the first federal commissioner for the Stasi documents. He praised the successful liberation that took place in 1989 but he also warned that the obtained freedom could only be sustained if everyone assumed responsibility. The election results, Gauck continued, were cause to muse over the East Germans who are currently deeply divided. On the one hand, there are those who identify with their role as responsible citizens, but on the other hand, there is the increasingly larger group of those who hope for a fundamental change in the social-political system. The new monument forms part of the “Road of Recollection” along the River Spree, a project initiated and implemented by the Ernst Freiberger Foundation. It is a series of monuments recalling individuals whose life represents freedom and human dignity. Katrin Schoellkopf talked to entrepreneur and benefactor Ernst Freiberger.
Die Welt: Herr Freiberger, where were you when the wall came down on November 9, 1989?
Ernst Freiberger: I was in my office in Munich, together with my head of sales, and I did not take any notice of the fall of the wall. That is quite sad, since our production was based in Berlin, and I used to live in Berlin, from 1976 onwards. There, whenever guests from out of town came for a visit, I would show them the wall. They would think that the wall was absurd and surreal, while for the people of Berlin the wall was very real indeed. When in 1987 Reagan asked Gorbatchov to tear down the wall, he was taken to be nuts. On November 10, 1989, however, I immediately drove from Munich to Berlin. Later on, we closed our Munich office and moved to Berlin.
Die Welt: In 1994, you set up the Ernst Freiberger Foundation in Berlin. Why did you do that?
Ernst Freiberger: That has something to do with my core conviction. I find that a person who is successful in a free society should return something to the society in which he lives.
Die Welt: And why is it specifically a “Road of Recollection” that you opted for?
Ernst Freiberger: The idea came to me in the late nineties. For two years, I took an extended trip around the world, visiting more than 85 countries. Wherever I travelled, I would ask the cab driver, the doorman or a tourist guide: “I am from Germany. What do you know about Germany?” Sometimes the answer would be: Beckenbauer or Claudia Schiffer. Names of politicians were rarely mentioned, but Hitler was a sure bet. Since everyone is entitled to be proud of his roots and since this right is taken from us, I came up with the idea for a road of recollection. I do not intend to euphemize anything by it, but I want to show that in the first half of the twentieth century, Germany also had positive heroes – heroes without a sword.
Die Welt: But with your new monument, “We Are the People”, you leave this frame of reference behind.
Ernst Freiberger: Yes, we transcend the framework that we had set ourselves. This monument pays homage to the countless men and women who, 20 years ago, achieved German unification and freedom from the GDR system by means of their peaceful revolution.
Die Welt: How do you explain the fact that 20 years after the fall of the wall, we now witness an increasing popularity and influence of the new left party, Die Linke?
Ernst Freiberger: Every year, I take a bicycle trip and this year I cycled through the region of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains. I met Germans who are completely different from what people tend to think in West Germany. They were neither whinging nor moaning. That was really great. But I also noticed that East Germany is devoid of young people. I can well imagine that the people of East Germany have not been sufficiently considered and “taken along” in the course of the reunification. They feel left alone and left behind, and this is what leads to extreme reactions such as the call for a fundamental change in power.
Die Welt: What significance does recollection hold for you?
Ernst Freiberger: The Freiberger Holding has a motto, namely “the future obliges us”. But without a past, there is no future.
