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ULRIKE ZILLE: Did you, as a student at Spezialschule
[school for especially gifted in the GDR],

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do study trips? And if so, where did you go?

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DIETER WEISE: Wait a minute... Yes, we had
that, but I got sick back then. I never actually-

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Was that Bulgaria?

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Or Poland?

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I don't remember. In any case, I didn’t go.

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I think Christine, who also went to Spezialschule,
she went on the trip.

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U.Z.: Your wife...

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But, I don't remember. No... I only travelled
after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

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That is... Yes, I once went

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to Russia. Soviet Union.

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With a cultural institution.

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They contacted me, through Spezialschule,

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– graduate of the special school, young artist
–

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and then I went by rail for a week to

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Moscow, Leningrad... Moscow, Leningrad.

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Exactly that was-

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U.Z.: And do you remember, who organized that?
Who contacted you?

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D.W.: I would think, it was the Kulturbund
[Cultural Association of the GDR]. Not the
Association [of Visual Artists of the GDR (VBK)].

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Who was it...?

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I think, Andreas Dress was supposed to join
and he chickened out.

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He probably sensed, there is something off
here. This is a political thing.

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You know artists...

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I don't know if many artists were actually
part of this trip.

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Most of them I had never met, they had nothing
to do with art.

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U.Z.: Was it a larger group?

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D.W.: I would think, maybe 14-15 people.

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But I don't remember, what other artists were
part of it.

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U.Z.: So you didn’t know them–

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I didn’t know them.

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What did I do there...?

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I think I was the only one there, who did sketches.

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Oh, we also were in Minsk. I liked Minsk!

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U.Z.: So, Leningrad, Moscow...?

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D.W.: I think first Moscow, then Leningrad
and then Minsk and then back again.

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U.Z.: Since this was an official trip, were
there organized meetings with artists from
Russia?

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D.W.: Yes, yes. Yes, with this sculptor.

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But don't ask me, whether that was the one,

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who created the Marx [sculpture],

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here in Chemnitz. I still wonder about that
today.

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D.W.: He was quite a likeable guy...

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I don't remember how we communicated.

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We had a bit of Russian [in school], but not
a lot of it stuck.

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But we understood each other a little bit,
I remember him as a nice person.

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He had a large studio.

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U.Z.: So probably it was...

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D.W.: They picked me for that [meeting], too.

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I didn't even want to go. I wanted to sketch
instead.

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U.Z.: They presented you an official state
artist...

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D.W.: Something like that.

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In retrospect, I was thinking:

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What did you get yourself into?

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U.Z.: And you didn’t get to know other artists
on this trip?

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D.W.: I’m sure there were more, but

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he’s the only one I remember. Or maybe I
wasn't picked for the other [visits]..?

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That could also be the case, of course.

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But, with this one... I don't remember what
his name was.

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But here, in Dresden, he must have made an
impression.

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U.Z.: Here in Dresden?

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D.W.: Yes, that was the connection...

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U.Z.: There were links between him and Dresden?

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D.W.: Yes, yes, there was a connection.

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U.Z.: One would have to find out, who that
might have been.

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D.W.: Who else was on that trip? They were
officials, cultural functionaries.

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U.Z.: Most of them were probably cultural functionaries?

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D.W.: Yes.

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I remember, we slept on that train

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and there was a guy [in the compartment], who
was a little older than me

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and I ask him: What kind of work are you doing?

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And that's when it clicked for me....

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Because he said: I am a colonel for culture
in the army.

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U.Z.: Colonel for culture in the army? Such
a thing existed?

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D.W.: Cultural functionary, probably, in the
army. Colonel or lieutenant colonel?

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Well, for me he was a colonel.

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So, that was his connection to art.

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So, you see... What were my trips abroad?

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Awful! Awful!

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U.Z.: So that wasn’t what you might have
expected?

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D.W.: No! Completely different...

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I thought, great, you can paint there! I had
packed a bunch of stuff, too.

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U.Z.: You wanted to really go and paint landscape
or in the city...

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D.W.: Yes, I also made woodcuts afterwards.

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U.Z.: There was not much time for that? They...

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D.W.: ...dragged us from one public event to
the next.

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U.Z.: Where people gave speeches? D.W.: Probably,
yes.

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U.Z.: You probably visited the museums?

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D.W.: Yes, yes. That was pretty good.

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Yes, and in the Hermitage [Museum in St. Petersburg],

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I don't remember who had told me that,

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but I somehow knew exactly,

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the Impressionists and the Modernists were
on the 4th floor.

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Because they already had those. They had Picasso
up there.

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And that was the first time I ever saw modernist
art.

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U.Z.: So, you were allowed to go see it?

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D.W.: All the other guys followed the group...

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I thought, now you have to ditch them, and
go up to the 4th floor.

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There was hardly any time, most didn’t even
get all they way up there.

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I remember, two or three joined me...

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And we were determined and said, we have to
get to the 4th floor,

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that's where the art is.