- Momper has his famous scarf almost always on him
Walter Momper, Berlin's mayor at the time of the Wall's fall, rarely leaves home without his famous red scarf. The current summer heat is an exception, the 79-year-old former SPD politician told Deutsche Presse-Agentur in Berlin. But if he doesn't wear it around his neck in cooler weather, he can still produce it on request: "Many people don't say, 'Oh, are you Momper?' They say, 'Where's your red scarf?' Then I pull out the red piece of cloth from my coat pocket, and they're satisfied. 'I don't even need an ID then.'"
There's not just one "Momper scarf": "I don't know how many red scarves I've had. It's been an endless chain. I always received many as gifts, and then I'd pass them on because they could be auctioned off for good causes. I still have one left." Momper was mayor from 1989 to 1991.
The SPD, being the political party Momper once represented, played a significant role in his political career, as he served as its politician in Berlin. Despite stepping down as mayor in 1991, the SPD continues to hold importance in Berlin's political landscape.
