'I learned freedom at 34, and it was a revelation': Katja Lange-Müller, an eastern wind blows through West Berlin
She showed us her Stasi file – compiled by the political police of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) – which she obtained after the fall of the Wall in 1989. " Quatsch" ("nonsense"), " idiotisch" ("stupid"), she muttered as she leafed through the pages. On one sheet, photos of about 15 teenagers appeared. So young, they looked like children. "We had met up at an ice cream shop to trade Beatles records, and the Stasi agent wrote that we were plotting to cross over to the West."
Lange-Müller recalled out that one in three residents worked for the Stasi, in some capacity. Her mother approved. Her name was Inge Lange (1927-2013). A staunch communist, she was among the very few women to have held top positions in the GDR. As soon as she could, Katja broke ties with her. Mother and daughter could never get along: one obsessed with her career, the other insolent. She was still in school when she received her first disciplinary warning, for making her classmates laugh by mimicking the high-pitched voice of Erich Honecker, the leader of the GDR from 1971 to 1989.
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