4 November 2025

Storytelling café with contemporary witnesses at Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences as a space for exciting life and contemporary stories

On 28 October, seven contemporary witnesses gave fascinating insights into their personal experiences from the time around 1990 in the university's Audimax. Vice President Prof. Dr Cordula Borbe, Prof. Dr Viola Sporleder-Geb and Diana Skyba (Dipl.-Pädagogin) had invited to a storytelling café, which was moderated by students at 7 tables in alternating discussion groups.

The following areas were represented at seven themed tables: Barbara Rinke for politics, Gisela Hartmann for the environment, Bernd Feuerriegel for the press, Mr Hans Joachim Junker for the economy. Mr Carsten Spiess represented the education sector, Gert Störmer the justice sector, while Mr Holger Wengler provided very interesting insights into the administration.

Barbara Rinke, who was active in the Protestant church during the reunification period and was Lord Mayor of Nordhausen from 1994 to 2012, reported on the area of politics, which she actively helped to shape during the years of upheaval and reorganisation and still shapes today as a member of the city council. She particularly remembers the good cohesion in politics at that time, talking and listening to each other, which made many things easier that have been lost to some extent today.

Gisela Hartmann presented the topic of the environment, to which she was highly committed through the Protestant church after a personal stroke of fate during the GDR era. As a civil rights activist and environmentalist, she put her heart and soul into her work and had a great deal of vision for Nordhausen even after the reunification.

Holger Wengler, who works as an e-government officer for the city of Nordhausen and, like Gisela Hartmann, helped to shape Nordhausen during the reunification period through his courageous commitment to the New Forum, moved from the business world to Nordhausen city council in 1991. Pragmatic and determined, he took on responsibility and made a significant contribution to the reorganisation of the administration. During this time, practical administrative support was provided by West German partner municipalities, specifically the city of Bochum.

Jens Feuerriegel was head of the local editorial office of the Thüringer Allgemeine from 1990 to 2012 and represented the press department. As a young journalist, he experienced the reunification period with a keen sense of the differences: from a state-controlled propaganda instrument of the SED to press freedom and pluralism, but also to tabloid and sensational journalism in a highly competitive market.

Hans Joachim Junker represented the business sector. In a managerial position at VEB Nordbrand Nordhausen, the largest spirits producer in the GDR, he accompanied the period of reunification and played an active role in the takeover by a West German company in 1991 until his retirement. Junker emphasised that the cooperation was fair and on an equal footing.

Karsten Spieß, headmaster of the Käthe Kollwitz School in Nordhausen, reported on the area of education. During the GDR era, schools were organised centrally and uniformly and were strongly influenced by the collective and socialist ideology, for example in the subject of civics. In the course of reunification, the federal West German education system was adopted and the curricula were adapted during ongoing school operations, which posed a challenge for many teachers.

Finally, Gert Störmer gave an impressive account of his personal experiences in the field of justice. As a young public prosecutor, he intensively experienced a political criminal justice system that was characterised by particular harshness towards so-called enemies of the state. The penal code of the GDR, for example, allowed for prison sentences of several years for „impairment of public order and security through antisocial behaviour“. Störmer was relieved that an independent justice system based on the principle of the rule of law had now been created, which examined all facets of a case and imposed punishments that were felt to be just and appropriate to the offender, offence and guilt.

Over the course of the evening, it became clear that reunification and reunification could only succeed because courageous and determined people took responsibility at the time in order to initiate change in a bold, fearless and occasionally unconventional manner. Cohesion and pragmatism were important keys to the successful shaping of German unity. And something else became clear: such formats with contemporary witnesses are important - especially in turbulent and fast-moving times - on the one hand to pay tribute to the courageous people of the past, and on the other to orientate ourselves on these role models and take on social or political responsibility ourselves today.