Over the last few days many people have come up to me in the street, they’re upset, angry about the delays at the border. They’re asking me: do I condemn West Germany for causing these problems?
Let me be completely clear about this: nobody condemns the West German border controls as strongly as I.
The West Germans can talk all they like about ‘continued unrest’. They can prattle on about ‘protecting’ their borders—but at the end of the day it is normal people who are suffering.
It’s people like you and me, people like your family, your friends and your workmates. We are the ones suffering from these new controls imposed by the West.
But when it comes to trade, it’s business as usual. When it comes to Bonzen crossing the border, it’s business as usual. The political elite have no trouble with crossing into West Berlin—for them the borders remain open.
But if you or I want to visit friends or family in the West we are treated very differently. We have to put up with strict border controls: long waits, searches and questioning.
Can we expect the government to do anything about this?
Of course not.