Alfredhuizinga
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-- Wikimedia Commons Welcome (talk) 19:37, 5 November 2023 (UTC)
Dear Alfred, your fantastic picture of the entrance to the State Security Centre in Leipzig from 1984 never ceases to amaze me. It is one of the very few testimonies that were taken during that time. I am currently trying to write the articles on the MfS district administrations in de-Wikipedia (f.e. Bezirksverwaltung für Staatssicherheit Leipzig). Your photo has already given me an important clue about the sign on the house of the building, because in the original it was only two lines long. The remains of the flyer that were stuck on and then removed are also astonishing. Can you tell us more about the circumstances of your trip? Which places did you visit in the GDR? How long were you there? Many thanks and best regards, Thomas Wozniak (talk) 15:26, 26 May 2024 (UTC)
- Dear Thomas,
- Thank you for your message, I already received a message from you last March and I responded by email (thomaswozniak@yahoo.com), but it probably did not arrive. Below is the content of that email of 8-3-2024:
- Dear Thomas,
- Thank you for your interest in my photo, it is indeed a special photo to which I have already received many responses. As described on Wikimedia Commons, the photo was taken during a school excursion in 1984. I have saved the excursion program from that time and it states that the trip lasted from May 7 to 12 and we visited the following cities: Eisenach, Erfurt, Weimar, Leipzig, Altenburg and Zwickau. I can't remember much about it, but the incident in Leipzig is still clear in my mind because it made quite an impression. Here is a brief account of the conditions in which the photo was taken:
- During a few free hours when we were allowed to explore the city of Leipzig on our own, I and a few classmates arrived at a beautiful building with a propaganda text and a man standing guard. We thought this was photogenic and started photographing the scene without realizing what kind of building it was. Another man came out and in turn started photographing us and I happily waved at him. We then walked on but a little later we were stopped by two police officers who rudely asked us about our "Ausweis" but when they realized that we were foreign tourists they immediately became a lot friendlier. They made it clear to us that we were not allowed to photograph the building and that we had to hand in our film rolls. My classmates had lost their photos, but I had put my camera under my jacket and the officers didn't notice. This way I was able to "smuggle" the photos and later in the darkroom at home I was able to read the sign next to the door that read: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit / Bezirksverwaltung Leipzig. That was of course a wonderful story to come home with.
- The photo on Wikimedia Commons is a crop from a somewhat larger image. If you are interested, I can send you a scan of the complete negative in maximum resolution. This makes the sign next to the door a little easier to read.
- Kind regards,
- Alfred Huizinga Alfredhuizinga (talk) 19:39, 26 May 2024 (UTC)