Erdmute Greis-Behrendt
Erdmute Greis-Behrendt
Tuesday 06 September 2011
I’ve only just learnt, with the heaviest of hearts, of the passing of my dear friend and ofttimes saviour Erdmute Greis-Behrendt. Rising above my sadness, however, come the memories of “Schoenhauserallee sieben-und-zwanzig” – the sound of that address is as engraved in my memory as Erdmute’s twinkling smile and giggle.
As a single man at the time, Erdmute was often my buffer between the ladies – of all ages – who would descend on the Reuters flat with the flimsiest of excuses. Courtesy of the Stasi, of course.
Erdmute was my anchor. God only knows what would have happened to me had she not been there.
I always felt the guilt that I was a rather well-paid young correspondent – as I recall, the Baron paid us correspondents in Deutschemark, which we changed in East Berlin at the rate of five-to-one – while Erdmute had to live modestly on her salary.
Hence our memorable nights out to the Offenbachstube, kind of an “Ivy” for East German poets, writers, artists, musicians, etc.
“Dinner with senior East German contact” – Erdmute – including champers, caviar, you name it, cost the Baron relatively little.
It wasn’t really “fiddling expenses”. Erdmute WAS the best East German contact, and she knew everyone you needed to know.
If my memory serves me well, which it no longer does, Erdmute made myself and my dear old pal Derek Parr godfathers of her new baby, Max. It is with great shame that I confess I never fulfilled that role. My reliability as a Reuter correspondent was, sadly, not matched by my reliability in relationships. I hope I’ve changed so please forgive me, Max.
Of course, the Wall was a concrete entity to Erdmute and Thomas (and later Max). We as Reuter correspondents had virtual diplomatic status. We could splutter through Checkpoint Charlie at any time, night or day, in that old Wartburg for weak, frothy beer on the Kudamm. How Erdmute laughed when I told her a bunch of young West Berliners had stoned the Wartburg, with yours truly in it, because of its East German plates.
One of the saddest days of my life was the day, in 1977, that Erdmute drove me to Checkpoint Charlie for my last time. My assignment was over. In the shadow of that bastard wall, she still managed that twinkle and that giggle.
On the other side of the wall, I walked to the nearest platform, looked back into East Berlin and wept.
I only wish I'd seen Erdmute's face when they pulled that bastard wall down.
Phil Davison
East Berlin correspondent, 1976-77
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As a single man at the time, Erdmute was often my buffer between the ladies – of all ages – who would descend on the Reuters flat with the flimsiest of excuses. Courtesy of the Stasi, of course.
Erdmute was my anchor. God only knows what would have happened to me had she not been there.
I always felt the guilt that I was a rather well-paid young correspondent – as I recall, the Baron paid us correspondents in Deutschemark, which we changed in East Berlin at the rate of five-to-one – while Erdmute had to live modestly on her salary.
Hence our memorable nights out to the Offenbachstube, kind of an “Ivy” for East German poets, writers, artists, musicians, etc.
“Dinner with senior East German contact” – Erdmute – including champers, caviar, you name it, cost the Baron relatively little.
It wasn’t really “fiddling expenses”. Erdmute WAS the best East German contact, and she knew everyone you needed to know.
If my memory serves me well, which it no longer does, Erdmute made myself and my dear old pal Derek Parr godfathers of her new baby, Max. It is with great shame that I confess I never fulfilled that role. My reliability as a Reuter correspondent was, sadly, not matched by my reliability in relationships. I hope I’ve changed so please forgive me, Max.
Of course, the Wall was a concrete entity to Erdmute and Thomas (and later Max). We as Reuter correspondents had virtual diplomatic status. We could splutter through Checkpoint Charlie at any time, night or day, in that old Wartburg for weak, frothy beer on the Kudamm. How Erdmute laughed when I told her a bunch of young West Berliners had stoned the Wartburg, with yours truly in it, because of its East German plates.
One of the saddest days of my life was the day, in 1977, that Erdmute drove me to Checkpoint Charlie for my last time. My assignment was over. In the shadow of that bastard wall, she still managed that twinkle and that giggle.
On the other side of the wall, I walked to the nearest platform, looked back into East Berlin and wept.
I only wish I'd seen Erdmute's face when they pulled that bastard wall down.
Phil Davison
East Berlin correspondent, 1976-77
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Erdmute Greis-Behrendt
Monday 05 September 2011
Hello to everyone who remembered my loved mother and the loved wife of Thomas.
We both very much appreciated all of your comments and your condolences regarding her and us.
It was very helpful in this hard and difficult time for us to see that there are people in the whole world who remember her as a part of Reuters and good friend.
Reuters always meant a whole lot for her and the friends she had in this company. And now we see that she may have meant a lot for Reuters people as well.
Thank you all very much for your warm words for Erdmute.
We miss her and her giggle too!
Max & Thomas Greis
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We both very much appreciated all of your comments and your condolences regarding her and us.
It was very helpful in this hard and difficult time for us to see that there are people in the whole world who remember her as a part of Reuters and good friend.
Reuters always meant a whole lot for her and the friends she had in this company. And now we see that she may have meant a lot for Reuters people as well.
Thank you all very much for your warm words for Erdmute.
We miss her and her giggle too!
Max & Thomas Greis
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Erdmute Greis-Behrendt
Thursday 01 September 2011
Erdmute’s death came much too soon as she would have been such a funny lady for years and years. I saw her whenever I travelled to Berlin, the last time a couple of years ago at a dinner with Annette von Broecker and Colin and Sigi McIntyre, among others. We also met with husband Thomas after the wall fell and gossiped about mutual acquaintances in the old DDR. And we shared a secret that kept us giggling for years. When I first arrived in Bonn 100 years ago, I was on an evening shift when some football story (soccer to me) arrived and was supposed to be translated into British English. As a Yank I barely knew the game, much less how to write about it. I would call Erdmute, send the German story to her and she would put it into English and send it back to me for filing. Then came “curling” – a game I had never heard of – and neither had she. Fortunately Colin arrived in time. I miss her wonderful, infectious laughter and her friendship.
Evelyn Leopold
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Evelyn Leopold
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Erdmute Greis-Behrendt
Wednesday 31 August 2011
Erdmute’s great contribution will be long held in the archives, I hope. She was one of our stars when we made the video “When the Wall came down”. Her joy in re-enacting for the camera how she rushed up the stairs to send her first “snap” from the press conference announcing the end of the Wall, was a delight. “Imagine, I had never sent a snap before,” she told us of her excitement and nervousness.
And it was also a major scoop to mark her dedication! Annette told us that snap was the first news the West German government received, as well as a first round the world. As the video remarked “We were first with the Wall going up and first with it going down,” thanks to her as well as the expat correspondents. The next step was to tell her family, who left for the wall. But she added that even when telling them she could hardly believe it and she stayed at her post. Her role in the video encapsulated not only what was best of Reuter staff in these circumstances but the reaction of so many of the East Germans at regaining their freedom of movement.
Colin Bickler
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And it was also a major scoop to mark her dedication! Annette told us that snap was the first news the West German government received, as well as a first round the world. As the video remarked “We were first with the Wall going up and first with it going down,” thanks to her as well as the expat correspondents. The next step was to tell her family, who left for the wall. But she added that even when telling them she could hardly believe it and she stayed at her post. Her role in the video encapsulated not only what was best of Reuter staff in these circumstances but the reaction of so many of the East Germans at regaining their freedom of movement.
Colin Bickler
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Erdmute Greis-Behrendt
Wednesday 24 August 2011
During the Cold War, with Berlin divided by the Wall and Germany split by Communist barbed wire fences, land mines, and armed border guards in watch towers, East Germans very rarely had a chance to visit the West. Reuters, the only Western news organisation with a resident correspondent based in East Berlin, managed to extract permission from the GDR authorities for Miss B to travel to London for a short visit to HQ in Fleet Street. Not once, but twice. Erdmute much appreciated the gesture as it reflected the high regard in which she was held by Editorial, borne out by the tributes already paid by former correspondents who worked with her in the cramped, bugged quarters of an office flat in Schoenhauser Allee (see Peter Millar's book on the downfall of the Wall ● 1989 The Berlin Wall: My Part in its Downfall).
Manfred Pagel
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Manfred Pagel
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Erdmute Greis-Behrendt
Sunday 21 August 2011
Very sad to hear of Erdmute's death in a year which has taken a heavy toll on Reuters friends and colleagues. Erdmute was right at the heart of the East Berlin bureau for decades while correspondents came and went, guided on their way by her knowledge and insights and drawing heavily on her administrative abilities in the day-to-day life of the Schoenhauser Allee office. She showed in her features for the German language service what a good writer she was too, and would have done more if given more scope under a less intransigent regime. Warm-hearted, generous and good-humoured, she was a great friend who brightened up any gathering, never seeming to let anything get her down. And, like so many others, I'll specially remember Erdmute's bubbling sense of fun and pealing laughter. My condolences to Thomas and Max.
Derek Parr
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Derek Parr
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Erdmute Greis-Behrendt
Thursday 18 August 2011
How sad. Erdmute was a wonderfully warm, colourful and cheerful presence in those dismal grey times of Berlin’s bitterly Cold War. With her great ability to read between the (party) lines of the official press, her work as an editorial assistant was invaluable – often doing her utmost to save many a subsequently illustrious correspondent from excruciating errors. But one of her most important personal gifts to me was teaching me in the kitchen of the Reuters flat how to make Kartoffelpuffer (potato pancakes) that were even better than my mother’s Latkes.
Jack Altman
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Jack Altman
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Erdmute Greis-Behrendt
Thursday 18 August 2011
The photo of me with Erdmute was taken to celebrate the establishment in 1970 of the first direct phone connection between the East and West Berlin offices since the Berlin Wall went up in 1961. Until then communications between the two was only possible by telex. The direct line was put in a day after the East Berlin bureau carried an extensive report on an East German exposé of the Nazi past of a senior West German politician. The story was hardly new, but we milked it for all it was worth, mainly to support our demands for a direct phone link. The champagne in the picture was Crimean.
Colin McIntyre
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Erdmute Greis-Behrendt
Thursday 18 August 2011
This is sad news. Erdmute was an inspiration, since she had a knack of seeing the bright side of adversity. As a wartime child she “rather liked” hiding from devastating air raids in Berlin bomb shelters, because the grown-ups did their best to spoil the children. Evacuation to the countryside fascinated her, as she remembers it full of brown men wearing turbans – Indian prisoners of war. When Berlin women had to clear mountains of rubble in 1945, she happily joined in since it was better than hanging around bored.
With that sort of aplomb, she was an example to any young Reuters correspondent daunted by the menacing atmosphere of East Berlin (in 1971/72 I felt as if World War II had finished only three weeks ago).
As others have been able to verify, she did not report on Reuters correspondents to the Stasi secret police. However the Stasi spied intensively on her. In her files, she later found piles of reports by Stasi collaborators tracking her as she went to and from her country cottage. As she drove through villages, always on the same route, they would telephone on to the next village to warn that “she’s coming” and record the fact for posterity. They also knew exactly how she gave birth to her son, since the obstetrician turned out to be a serving Stasi officer.
When I met Erdmute three years ago, after a gap of 36 years, she told me these stories in her Pankow flat – as the good journalist she had become. When I asked what impact Reuters had in East Berlin as the only Western news organisation, she replied: “Class. Reuters added tone to East Berlin.” She did that too.
Marcus Ferrar
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With that sort of aplomb, she was an example to any young Reuters correspondent daunted by the menacing atmosphere of East Berlin (in 1971/72 I felt as if World War II had finished only three weeks ago).
As others have been able to verify, she did not report on Reuters correspondents to the Stasi secret police. However the Stasi spied intensively on her. In her files, she later found piles of reports by Stasi collaborators tracking her as she went to and from her country cottage. As she drove through villages, always on the same route, they would telephone on to the next village to warn that “she’s coming” and record the fact for posterity. They also knew exactly how she gave birth to her son, since the obstetrician turned out to be a serving Stasi officer.
When I met Erdmute three years ago, after a gap of 36 years, she told me these stories in her Pankow flat – as the good journalist she had become. When I asked what impact Reuters had in East Berlin as the only Western news organisation, she replied: “Class. Reuters added tone to East Berlin.” She did that too.
Marcus Ferrar
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Erdmute Greis-Behrendt
Wednesday 17 August 2011
Carrot red hair, a walk somewhere between a flounce and a strut plus a giggle to lighten a grey day in East Berlin. Erdmute would help wade through a 36-page speech from party leader Walter Ulbricht, negotiate a service for the office car (a two-stroke, blue smoke belching Wartburg), cover the results of the visiting Senegalese badminton team and rescue a teleprinter hell-bent on self-destruction.
She was a cheery friend to all correspondents and visitors and was, like us, oblivious that the Stasi, the secret police, occupied the flat next door. She told of how once, shortly before the wall came down, she had driven away from the office only to get an anonymous call on her mobile to inform her she had forgotten her handbag in the office. When I visited her on her farm east of Berlin three years ago she, like many East Germans, said she felt there were many good things about the old GDR lost in reunification.
I'll miss her – and that giggle.
Mark Meredith
Correspondent East Berlin 1967-68
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She was a cheery friend to all correspondents and visitors and was, like us, oblivious that the Stasi, the secret police, occupied the flat next door. She told of how once, shortly before the wall came down, she had driven away from the office only to get an anonymous call on her mobile to inform her she had forgotten her handbag in the office. When I visited her on her farm east of Berlin three years ago she, like many East Germans, said she felt there were many good things about the old GDR lost in reunification.
I'll miss her – and that giggle.
Mark Meredith
Correspondent East Berlin 1967-68
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Erdmute Greis-Behrendt
Tuesday 16 August 2011
During my years in East Berlin (1960-62) Erdmute had the title of “Office Secretary” but was already far more than that, being inter alia an assiduous and highly effective comber of the East German provincial press for stories of interest. She may not have been unique amongst so many Reuter employees “behind the Iron Curtain” in the Cold War years but was definitely one of the very few who were not “appointed” to their job by the Communist authorities. The position was advertised by Reuters in the local party daily, Berliner Zeitung, and Erdmute was one of the very few people (if any others) who courageously answered the advert, applied for the job, and was allowed to take it. The support she gave me and my wife Mary during the Wall crisis 50 years ago was unstinting and invaluable. We loved her dearly and will miss her greatly.
Adam Kellett-Long
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Adam Kellett-Long
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