Halle (Saale) –
“I am a tram driver with body and soul.” Gabriele Kornmeier, then 38, said this sentence to a reporter from Halle in February 1986. There she was presented by the “Freiheit”, from which the MZ emerged after the fall of the Wall, on the occasion of her 20th anniversary as a tram driver for the transport company in Halle. Today Gabriele Kornmeier is 72 years old, now lives in Freiburg im Breisgau and still feels closely connected to her hometown Halle. Now she wants to give something back and is donating 1,500 euros to the outpatient children’s and youth hospice.
Winters were particularly stressful for tram drivers from Halle
If she did her job properly, she was free. Nobody told her what to do or not to do. “I was self-employed there. I was my own captain, ”said Gabriele Kornmeier when asked what she liked best about the time behind the desks of the trams in Halle. She was still shy at the beginning. When someone from the passengers complained that the tram was delayed, they started to cry. “My colleagues then told me that I needed a thick skin.”
Gabriele Kornmeier has acquired the “thick skin” over time. A coat would have been good in other respects too, because it was mainly the colder months that were particularly stressful. “I liked each winter the least,” she says. There was still no heating in the old trams, which is why the young driver had to improvise: “I was wearing three pairs of pants: my father’s underpants, a pair of tights and a pair of pants on top,” she says.
“If Christine and I had reserves, we caused chaos”
There was also a coat with a fur vest, rubber boots and a headscarf. “I looked great. If I had fallen over, I would have needed a crane. ”Later, there were underfloor heating, explains Gabriele Kornmeier. Sometimes they would have missed their goal: “They were so violent that the soles of your shoes melted away and nothing arrived on top.”
In addition to the harsh winters, it was mainly the shift work that did not leave the mother of two children much time for free time, but also brought the best hours. Because during this time she met her colleague and still best friend, Christin Enterlein. In the coffee shop of the company, both of them kept the colleagues busy: “If Christine and I had reserves, we spread chaos,” says Gabriele Kornmeier and laughs. Both would have played jokes until one of them had to get back on the track.
Solidarity with home: Former tram driver donates to children’s hospice in Halle
It was also her best friend who gave Gabriele Kornmeier the idea to donate money for a project in the city of Saale. The first time she heard about the hospice on regional television, she says. “I was so touched that I wanted to do something good,” says Gabriele Kornmeier. For the pensioner, it goes without saying that the money for the hospice work goes to Halle. “I’m still very attached to my home country,” she says.
From the cam switch in the old Siemens car to the end in the striking red and white Tatra car, her journeys through Halle are what Gabriele Kornmeier still has most in common with her homeland. “The marketplace is the biggest,” she says. The Kröllwitzer bridge and the trips through the heath would have been great fun. “But actually, all routes were dear to me.” (Mz)
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