The East German MEP, one of the first to come from the GDR, describes how the Berlin Wall affected his life.

The News: MEP Glante recalls life in the shadow of the Wall

The wall was right here, behind it there   was the so-called death strip.

And my vocational school   which you can see here,

its windows were boarded up with planks   so you couldn't even look into the West.

The others had their passes as they were   from Berlin and could just go through,

but I had to ask the doorman each day for   a permit which he issued for me.

In November he said   "You are no longer allowed to enter."

It was a great feeling to work together   with all these international colleagues,

whom you couldn't even have visited   in the past and now

I sit next to French   Greeks or Spaniards.