"I've been working with food all my life"

How long have you been coming to the Green Week?

I can't even count that. I've been coming since the 1950s and have been to the Green Week every year until today. Back then, there was always an advertisement on the radio: "There's something going on again at the radio tower. You have to come. Green Week in a big way. But back then there wasn't as much going on as there is now, it was just Germany and in the post-war period.

What was your best experience during all this time?

The best experience was always going with the family. When my daughter was little, I always said to her: "Hold my hand. It's crowded here, and if you break away because you're looking for her dad, who has always gone ahead of you, and you get lost, you'll cry afterwards. There she has always been good. In the 80's 90's and 2000's I was sometimes four times on the fair.

You can't get through all the halls less than four times

Four times?

Yes, once with my husband, once with my daughter, once with my friend, and at the very end again all by myself, because then I could look at whatever I wanted and didn't have to look after anyone. You can't get through all the halls in less than four times, and I want to see everything. So I have to go through each hall in one direction and then the other. You can't just walk through, then you haven't seen the other side. Because I come from Berlin-Halensee, I didn't have that far to go.

Did you ever consider not going because it became too difficult for you in your old age?

Not at all. As a trained food saleswoman, I've been involved with food all my life. I learned to make pastries and baked goods and first worked as a 13-year-old in a bakery and pastry shop on Joachim-Friedrich-Strasse in Halensee. There my working hours were from half past five in the morning until half past ten in the evening. Later I was a sausage saleswoman at KaDeWe. In the course of that, we also used to do a lot of advertising for the Green Week. I'm very interested in how things are going with food. I'm mentally completely fit, just not physically so anymore.

Pressack, liver cheese and white sausages

Do you have a favorite hall at Green Week?

I like to go to the Bayernhalle. That's because my parents evacuated me privately to the Fichtelgebirge during the war. I grew up there for four years. That's how I know Presssack and Leberkäs and Weißwürste, and I always look forward to seeing if they're still serving them. I don't drink alcohol or coffee, but with my girlfriend I always loved to eat a Germknödel at the end of the evening in the Austria Hall.

Is there anything you are particularly looking forward to now in 2023?

Yes. I'm looking forward to coming to the Brandenburg Hall now, because I love passing by Klaistow. I also went to Klaistow every year to eat asparagus. Brandenburg is a beautiful hall.