This is the extension, the continuation of my experiences learning the Russian language and my contacts with Russian-speaking people. With Galina I learned a great deal of Russian, and I was constantly trying to listen as much as I could – to records, but also to the radio. That wasn't so easy back then, but my father helped me with it and backed me up.
And then, when I was 16 or 17, my father took me along one summer to accompany a group of female students from Novosibirsk – from Akademgorodok. So there was a partnership with the university in Novosibirsk. And through Jugendtourist a friendship train was organized that arrived in Berlin, and then the groups were split up. Each group got its own Ikarus bus with its own personal driver.
And the group I got to look after alongside him was also put up for quite a while in Karl-Marx-Stadt, as it was still called back then – today's Chemnitz – at the TU Chemnitz. And there I got to accompany my father in his work. That means I talked with the students and answered their questions about life in the GDR. Of course they were totally taken with me, because they hadn't expected a setup like that: father and son.
And as life would have it, I fell in love with one of the girls – Irina was her name. She was two years older than me, naturally a bit more mature and experienced, and yes, somehow it just clicked – she fell for me too. I think we spent three weeks together in all, though of course never just the two of us; we were always with the group. That means we had no private sphere at all, it wasn't easy. And we grew very close and then exchanged addresses.
Once again: this was the mid-80s. There were no electronic, digital channels of communication whatsoever. And she went back home, and we started writing to each other. We wrote letters the classic way. And that went on for quite some time. It actually went on for a pretty long time. For a whole year we did nothing but write back and forth, swapped letters and photos, and grew even closer that way. Hard to imagine nowadays, probably, but at first it was above all a platonic relationship. And of course I learned a lot of Russian there too. Whenever she used a new turn of phrase, I always looked it up. I could look those up and double-check them at my leisure, and then write them down and use them.
And as I said, the following year my father organized a trip to Siberia for me through Jugendtourist and Intourist. That wasn't easy. And he made sure that Novosibirsk was on the route, and so I actually got to meet Irina in person once more. As you can imagine, it was a very intense and very emotional reunion.
The trip then took us via Irkutsk and Abakan, right across Siberia. And yes, she picked me up at the airport in Novosibirsk, and it had been arranged that I could go home with her privately – but only for one day. Back then you weren't really allowed to stray from the route. But my father and I myself as well – I was old enough by then to explain it – cleared it with the leader, the boss, the tour group leader. And he was absolutely thrilled, and everyone clapped and said: “Yes, that's great that you've got a girlfriend there and are meeting her privately. Do your thing!”
And yes, Irina already had her own little flat back then. That was very rare; she had managed to get it through her parents, who were both lecturers at the university.
In any case, that was, for the time being, the last time we saw each other in person, because a few months later it was: GDR Border Troops for me. So I was drafted, sworn in, and another stretch of letter-writing began, which we both kept up very intensely. I think I wrote at least one letter a week, and got at least one from her too. It was very intense.
I don't even know how often we got letters back then, I mean how often the company clerk handed out the mail. But I can still remember: we always had to fall in, and then the letters were handed out. Everyone's name was called out – there was no such thing as data privacy – and you could always see that I was getting a letter from Siberia. Of course my comrades always watched and wanted to know more: who that was and what she was writing and so on.
Yes, what I'd also like to add is that of course I had dated girls before – German girls. But the Russian girls were simply a different category, they were just different. And that being different – it fascinated me so much, and it still has me hooked today. In fact, my wife today is Russian too.
And I'd also like to add here: when we talk about Russian women now, it's entirely possible and quite likely that back then, during my time of exchange with members of the Soviet armed forces at the garrison in Karl-Marx-Stadt, I also had contact with Ukrainian girls. Back then I simply didn't pay attention to it. It wasn't an issue back then. They spoke Russian, and so for me they were, well, Soviet girls, if you like – Russian-speaking girls. Today, of course, people make the distinction.
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