1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
In focus
Los Angeles wildfiresClimate changeGerman election 2025
Latest audioLatest videos
Live TV
Politics

TV Repairman, Protester, Entrepreneur: A Leipzig businessman before and after the Wall

November 4, 2014

Michael Schöne ran an electronics shop in East Germany. He took part in the Monday demonstrations and was thrilled when the Berlin Wall fell. After the border opened, he finally got his hands on modern technology from the West. His shop thrived and it still exists today.

https://p.dw.com/p/1Dgq8

For Michael Schöne, the fall of the Berlin Wall was more than a business opportunity - it reunited him with his daughter in Cologne. Getting his bearings in the new capitalist economy was initially a challenge. But he made the switch from repairing products to selling them, and eventually his hard work paid off. Today he faces stiff competition from big retailers, but his well-earned reputation keeps his business afloat.