Forty Autumns: A Family's Story of Courage and Survival on Both Sides of the Berlin Wall

In Karl Marx City, 15-year-old Cordula trains intensively as a swimmer, hoping to join the national team. Behind East Germany’s athletic success lies a secret state-sponsored doping program that will eventually tarnish the country’s reputation.

On October 7, East Germany celebrates its 25th anniversary. Willner attends the military parade in East Berlin as an official US representative, observing Erich Honecker and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko in the reviewing stand. Her team secretly photographs military equipment. After the parade, Willner takes Honecker’s photograph.

Honecker worries about Poland’s Solidarity movement and new Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who is implementing reforms that Honecker rejects. Willner later visits the US Cold War headquarters in Potsdam with Nicholson, crossing the Glienicke Bridge, the famous “Bridge of Spies” (274).

In Klein Apenburg, Opa’s health declines and he dies during surgery, aged 86. Roland notifies Hanna by letter. Cordula is devastated but must return to training, where she is given the opportunity to switch from swimming to cycling, a new Olympic sport. She shows rapid progress and begins racing.

In late March 1985, Willner learns Major Nicholson has been killed on a mission in East Germany.

Willner details how Major Nicholson was shot by a Soviet sentry near Ludwigslust while photographing military storage sheds and was allowed to bleed death by East German officials. His body was returned over the Glienicke Bridge. The incident makes international headlines but is eventually downplayed to maintain diplomatic relations.

Gorbachev institutes a reform program of increased freedom and openness in the Soviet Union, urging Eastern Bloc countries to follow suit. Honecker refuses, censoring Soviet media in East Germany. Sixteen-year-old Cordula makes the East German national cycling team and the Olympic training team. Heidi realizes this is a rare opportunity and, to protect Cordula’s future, writes a careful final letter to Hanna, severing all communication. In Washington, Hanna receives the cryptic letter but understands something significant has occurred.

At the training facility, the athletes receive extraordinary perks: Western goods, special foods, and world-class equipment. Athletes are pushed to their absolute limits in a highly regimented program. In fall 1985, Cordula’s team trains at a velodrome in East Berlin. The trainers take them on a tour where Cordula sees the Brandenburg Gate and Berlin Wall for the first time. A trainer delivers the standard warning about Western evils and the betrayal of defection.

Meanwhile, Willner and her driver conduct an intelligence mission in East Berlin. After evading surveillance, they reach Karlshorst but are ambushed by Soviet soldiers deep in a forest. A young lieutenant points a loaded pistol at Willner’s head, ordering her to roll down her window. Out of radio range, Willner feigns a call to headquarters, hoping the threat of being reported will de-escalate the situation. She notices the lieutenant’s gun is shaking and senses uncertainty. After her fake radio call, she orders her driver to inch the car forward toward the soldier blocking their path. The lieutenant hesitates, then orders the soldier to step aside, allowing them to escape.

Willner runs in the 1986 Berlin Marathon, a course within West Berlin, winding around the Wall. The festive atmosphere contrasts with East German guards watching from the other side. The route passes significant Cold War landmarks, including Checkpoint Charlie and the Rathaus Schöneberg, where Kennedy declared “Ich bin ein Berliner” (298). 

Willner’s parents visit Berlin. She shows them her apartment and workplace but reveals nothing about her intelligence operations. When she takes Hanna and Eddie on an official bus tour of East Berlin, her mother becomes terrified of being arrested, despite Willner’s assurances. After a quick photo at the Brandenburg Gate, Hanna refuses to leave the bus again in East Berlin.

In East Germany, Cordula is being considered for her first competition outside the Eastern Bloc, in Italy. Reinhard finally receives the car he ordered 13 years earlier.

On one of Willner’s final missions in Berlin, her team stakes out a rail line. Around midnight, as they wait, John Lennon’s “Imagine” plays from a nearby military hut where someone is listening to Western radio. Willner departs Berlin on the US Army overnight Duty Train, her last journey through East Germany. As the train rolls through the bleak countryside, she reflects on the likely fate of her mother’s family. Willner sees a light in a cabin and imagines the silhouette of an old woman inside to be her Oma, allowing herself a moment of longing.

While Gorbachev promotes reform in the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries embrace change, Erich Honecker remains unyielding in East Germany. In June 1987, President Reagan visits Berlin and delivers his famous speech demanding, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this Wall” (308). Willner watches from Maryland, her mother from Washington, and many East Germans, including Heidi, hear the call for freedom.

Seventeen-year-old Cordula is cleared to compete in Italy. The team travels under strict rules but Cordula is stunned by the openness and happiness she witnesses in Italy. The trainers spin negative interpretations of Western life, and Cordula learns to keep her observations to herself. With money from their trainers, Cordula and teammate Andrea buy Sony Walkman players, forbidden Western luxury items that they must keep hidden. Over the next year, Cordula competes internationally and is selected as a substitute for the 1988 Seoul Olympics, where East Germany wins more cycling medals than any other country. 

Heidi and Reinhard regularly watch Western news, tracking changes in other Eastern Bloc nations while Honecker digs in his heels. He refuses to follow Gorbachev’s model, insisting East Germany has already done its restructuring. In 1988, when Michael Jackson performs in West Berlin, young people in East Berline gather near the Wall to listen to Jackson and the VoPo violently attack them. 

After retiring, Roland writes to Hanna more frequently. Later that year, he dies of diabetes aged 62, devastating Hanna, who did not know he was ill. Heidi and many others wonder what will happen to East Germany as it becomes increasingly isolated in its hardline stance.

In 1989, Eastern Bloc nations respond to Gorbachev’s call for change. Hungary opens its borders and Poland’s democratic Solidarity Party wins elections. Honecker watches China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown, envisioning a similar response if necessary in East Germany.

In June, Cordula becomes the national women’s cycling champion. In July, while her team competes in Switzerland, teammate Andrea defects, shocking everyone. By August, Hungary has dismantled its border defenses with Austria, providing a path to the West. By September, over 13,000 East Germans have fled through Hungary. Inside East Germany, peaceful protests begin in Leipzig, initially suppressed but growing to tens of thousands demanding “We want out!” (318).

Willner, now married and pregnant with her second child, watches from Maryland as thousands of East Germans seek asylum in Prague. On September 30, West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher announces that the refugees are free to leave for West Germany, triggering wild celebration. Without an invitation from Honecker, Gorbachev visits East Germany and tells the public they have the right to choose their own futures. The crowd erupts, chanting “Gorby, save us!” when Honecker proceeds with the 40-anniversary celebration on October 7. At the official parade in East Berlin, an annoyed Gorbachev stands beside a defiant Honecker, later telling him, “Life punishes those who delay” (323). Demonstrations swell across the country, with hundreds of thousands marching in Leipzig and East Berlin, and protesters in Leipzig storm past the local Stasi headquarters.

Eleven days after the 40th-anniversary parade, the Politburo forces Erich Honecker to resign. Deputy Egon Krenz replaces him but cannot quell the massive protests. In early November, Cordula and her team train at the Marzahn velodrome in East Berlin, told by their trainers to ignore the chaos in the streets.

Scrambling to stem the refugee hemorrhage, the Krenz administration decides to loosen travel restrictions. On November 9, party official Günter Schabowski is tasked with announcing the new policy. Unfamiliar with the details, Schabowski mistakenly announces that all citizens are free to emigrate through all border posts. When asked when the policy takes effect, he replies, “As far as I know, immediately” (326). West German news broadcasts that the Berlin Wall is open. East Germans rush to the checkpoints, demanding to be let through. Border guards, overwhelmed and without clear orders, open the gates. Throngs of East Germans pour into West Berlin, where they are joyfully greeted with flowers, champagne, and embraces. Watching on television, Heidi is convinced it is an elaborate Stasi trick and refuses to believe it is real.

In their dormitory, Cordula and her teammates sleep through the historic night, unaware of the events unfolding. Their trainers slip out to celebrate in West Berlin. The next morning, the trainers tell the disbelieving girls the border is open and show them television coverage. Suddenly, the Berlin Wall has fallen, giving free access to 16 million East Germans.

Willner, Hanna, and Eddie watch the news in amazement. Hanna is overwhelmed by the thought of finally seeing her family again. Heidi makes the first phone call to Hanna. Through a bad connection, the sisters speak. Hanna reassures a disbelieving Heidi that the news is real and encourages her to venture into the West.

A few weeks after the Wall falls, Heidi accepts that she is free. One weekend, she and Reinhard pack their Skoda and drive from Karl Marx City toward the former East-West border. They pass other East Germans who have pulled over, afraid to cross into the unknown West, their eyes filled with tears and bewilderment. Heidi and Reinhard move freely through an abandoned border post. On the other side, they pull off the road and sit in silence, gazing at the horizon. They get out and walk alongside a bare autumn field, breathing in the fresh air. In the distance, a West German farmer waves a welcome. After a time, they return to their car. Reinhard starts the engine. She looks at him, he smiles at her, and they continue onward, driving into the beautiful unknown.

In spring 1990, more than 40 years after escaping, 63-year-old Hanna flies to Germany with Eddie. Manni meets them at the airport, and he and Hanna share a long, emotional embrace. At Manni’s house, Hanna is tearfully reunited with sisters Tiele, Helga, and Tutti. When she meets Heidi, they fall into each other’s arms. Heidi takes Hanna’s hand and does not let go for the rest of the afternoon.

Over several days, Hanna meets Reinhard, Cordula, and the extended family. The family celebrates their reunion, toasting their parents’ commitment to keeping them bonded. They honor Opa’s moral courage and Oma’s unbending faith and determination. Hanna’s siblings take her to visit the graves of Oma, Opa, Roland, Klemens, and Kai. They visit Klein Apenburg, and Seebenau. For their last days, Hanna and Eddie stay with Heidi and Reinhard, who show them Paradise Bungalow. Sitting under the blue spruce and pear trees, the relatives begin to truly know one another.

In 1991, Willner visits Germany with her husband and children, meeting her relatives for the first time. In September 2013, Willner, Hanna, and her brother Albert attend another family reunion in Berlin. Willner, Cordula, and Albert run the Berlin Marathon together. The family reunion party brings together over 60 relatives. Willner watches as Hanna and her five surviving siblings lock arms and sing an old folk song from their childhood, celebrating as if the Wall had fallen that very day. Willner steps away to reflect, noticing portraits of Oma and Opa on the mantel. She feels her grandmother’s presence watching over the room, her prophecy fulfilled: The family is finally together again, just as Oma always knew they would be.

Manni, Tiele, Helga, and Tutti retire as teachers. Hanna continues teaching German, writing, and painting. She publishes a first novel and enjoys her 14 grandchildren. Eddie dies in 2008.  

After the Wall falls, Heidi’s firm is privatized. She is promoted to executive assistant to the company president, before retiring after 37 years. Reinhard’s company is incorporated into Siemens, and all 30 East German employees lose their jobs. He finds work as a salesman for building materials. In retirement, Heidi and Reinhard still enjoy Paradise Bungalow and travel extensively. Hanna and Heidi remain very close; whenever they meet, Heidi still holds her sister’s hand.

Cordula continues to compete after reunification, becoming the last East German champion in points track races. In 1991, her team becomes the first champions of a major tournament in reunited Germany. She retires from professional cycling in 1992 and is now a deputy bank manager.

By October 1990, Germany is reunified. Honecker is charged with crimes but flees to Moscow to avoid prosecution, dying in Chile in 1994. It is revealed that the Stasi had employed one informant for every 66 residents. Most Stasi officers are never charged and live among the general population. Reagan and Gorbachev are credited with helping end the Cold War. Willner points out that, at the time of Forty Autumns’s publication, Angela Merkel, a former East German, serves as Germany’s chancellor, and Joachim Gauck, a former East German pastor and civil rights activist, is President.