Former East German Leader's Wife Is Homesick

[marmar]

from Der Spiegel:



She may be "tough" and "sporty," but the exiled widow of East Germany's former leader still misses home. Margot Honecker longs for the forests and wild mushrooms of Germany, the author of a new book about her husband says.

For some 20 years, Margot Honecker, the widow of hardline former East German leader Erich Honecker, has lived in exile. Her home in Santiago, Chile is far removed from her birthplace Germany, a place she reportedly still longs for.

The 84-year-old met with Berlin author Frank Schuhmann in Chile, and he reports that the former Minister of Education for the communist country is homesick. "She lives with her mind in Germany," he told daily Berliner Kurier on Monday.

Forests and mushrooms are among the things she misses most, Schuhmann said, describing the elderly woman as "very self-assured," "tough," "sporty" and "fully awake intellectually." In fact, Margot Honecker continues to inform herself about current events in Germany via the Internet, which she surfs between five and six hours a day, he told the paper. Last year an interview with her grandson revealed that she also reads SPIEGEL ONLINE each morning. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,813785,00.html

[xchrom]

1. a trip down Cold War memory lane. nt