Meet the New York Times Bureau Manager Who Witnessed the Fall of the Berlin Wall
9, 2017
"We did a lot of traveling that year, after the wall came down — all over East Germany," Mr. Schmemann added.
"And he’s been an absolute stalwart of The Times’s coverage of Germany — the go-to person for every correspondent
who’s lived or worked there." "He transcended the traditional role of the bureau manager," Mr. Cowell added.
Thus began a furious night of reporting for both Mr. Schmemann
and Mr. Homola, who returned to East Berlin in the early hours of Nov. 10 to find his children and his mother fast asleep.
In those days, foreign correspondents who wanted to work in East Germany were assigned an interpreter by the East German government.
Victor Homola, who for years had worked with The Times as an East German interpreter, was standing outside the room.
