I am still grateful for my walk-on part in the momentous events that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the triumph of democracy

I was a ten-year-old living in West Berlin when the Wall fell and a Trabant driven by an overexcited Ossi nearly ran me over on my bike

In his epic novel 'The Tower' Uwe Tellkamp brilliantlydepicts the grotesque idiosyncrasies of the GDR’s bureaucracy