“I don't want anything back from the GDR”

The GDR would have been 75 years old on October 7. How should we remember the GDR? Should we talk about the injustice and the many border deaths or should we talk about it with a good dose of Ostalgia? We spoke to Günter Wetzel. He fled the GDR in 1979 in a self-built hot air balloon and is now traveling all over Germany as a contemporary witness.

Günter Wetzel lived in Bavaria for 40 years after fleeing the GDR. He moved back to East Germany five years ago. Source: Supplied / Günter Wetzel

Mit diesem selbst genähten Ballon gelang Günter Wetzel mit seiner und einer befreundeten Familie 1979 die Flucht über die deutsch-deutsche Grenze. Credit: Günter Wetzel