[Rick Lee]

I was first there in June 1988 and in Halle in July 1989. At that time there was absolutely no sign of the DDR collapsing. The Monday night prostests in Leipzig were just beginning, but were not reported. While I was there they implemented the requirement for DDR citizens to get a visa to visit Hungary, which had just removed their fence with Austria in May. I took a train to Austria from Leipzig and we ended up driving to Hungary via Vienna. We could see abandoned Trabants on the side of the road and people wandering through the fields into Austria. Such history.