Green MEP Elisabeth Schroedter takes us on a journey into her past. Inspired by Václav Havel, as a teenager she took part in civil rights movements in the GDR, and lived through the changes brought by the fall of the Wall. These events have marked her, an

Interview: I came to Brussels as an East German politician - Schroedter

Elisabeth Schroedter learnt   from her family what opposition meant.

In 1989, she became involved   in the New Forum,

one of the GDR's civil rights movements   which organised the big demonstrations.

A member of the Greens,   Schroedter became an MEP in 1994.

Even as a teenager, you were part   of the opposition movement in the GDR.

What did opposition mean in those days,   and what were the main objectives?

First of all,   it meant being against the system.

And secondly,   it was an attempt to organise ourselves

and to work towards an alternative   political system for the GDR.

to come up with an alternative   and to demand basic human rights,

such as the freedom of assembly   and the freedom of speech.

there were much more courageous   movements, such as Charter 77,

which set the example for me personally.

and I studied many   of the relevant philosophical works

as well as the specific reports of the time.

I talked to a lot of people,   many of whom became my friends.

For me the most important person   was Václav Havel.

What made him so relevant to me   was the fact

that he, and this entire movement,   pursued changes within the system,

which included   the recognition of human rights.

My parents had always been against the   system and everything connected to it.

To me, this was   a rather backward-looking

The fact that these people   stood up for something

to actively pursue my own way   within the opposition movement,

The idea to demand compliance   with the Helsinki Charter,

which our leadership had officially signed,

developed into a concrete objective   which we pursued step by step.

I was involved in the movement   "Kirche von unten",

which pursued concrete goals like   democracy and freedom of assembly,

but also the integrity of creation and   the peace movement were also vital.

These three movements   defined "Kirche von unten".

We had very specific ideas   about what we wanted to achieve.

decided to get involved in and   become a member of the New Forum?

when Mikhail Gorbachev   became Head of State of the USSR.

We were no longer afraid   of Russian troops rolling in

if we tried to organise   an opposition movement in the GDR.

This had also been decisive   in the developments in Poland,

We organised various political initiatives,

such as the counter-demonstration at   the 1988 Liebknecht-Luxemburg parade,

where we tried to campaign with posters.

The attempt failed.   This was the lowest point for me.

I found it very difficult   to cope with this set-back.

It seemed to me that it would take several   generations to bring about changes.

At that moment,   I didn't believe that we would succeed.

I always said that I hoped my children   would continue the work I had started.

Did you see your work as a risk,   also in a physical way?

We were all taking very high risks,   and we were aware of that.

Our movement was given a boost   by our first major, as I saw it, success.

We were able to prove that electoral fraud   had been committed at the local elections.

Obviously, everybody knew   that the elections were fraudulent,

but the fact   that we were able to prove this

without being immediately   silenced by the regime,

was a great success   for the opposition movement.

From this moment,   people just flocked to us.

The fact that we were able to organise   ourselves clearly resonated with them.

From then on,   things changed from week to week.

I wasn't one of the first founders   of the New Forum,

but there were many other movements,   and one which I was strongly involved in

was the founding   of the Social Democratic Party.

There were several preliminary meetings   before the famous Sunday meeting.

There were events and activities   throughout August.

People discussed   different ways of organising,

within the existing   legal framework of the GDR,

a permanent movement   for political change.

as we had done   with regard to the electoral fraud,

Apart from the New Forum   and the SDP movements,

there were many others,   such as Democracy Now.

They all started around the same time,   for two reasons:

In July, Egon Krenz, who was to succeed   Honecker as the GDR's Head of State,

We were shocked. It proved   that the same could happen to us.

Krenz's remarks   had two major consequences:

First of all, many people   decided to leave the GDR.

They escaped en masse,   they simply panicked.

This proved to be a problem   also for the opposition movement,

That's why they decided to step up   their political activities.

This laid the foundation   for those weeks in September,