It was in the summer of '89. August 12th.
It started in Hamburg
in his old, sky blue Ford Granada
Kasseler mountains, Würzburg, Nürnberg, Linz, Vienna
He turned his back on everything
The goal was the Burgenland, the Austrian-Hungarian border
In Mattersburg he bought himself "the best bolt cutter money can buy"
Almost 400 shilling
In Mörbisch am See he checked into the Guest House Peterhof
bought himself a döner and waited for night to fall
shortly after 1:00 there was a knock on the door
the go-between gave him a letter
and disappeared again without saying a word
He committed the letter to memory and set off on foot
Down Ödenburger Street, past the last lanterns
Just before the bend in the dirt road, turn right and go all the way to the end
The last 100 meters farther through the tall grass
into the small forest
Sat tight until the 3:30 border patrol
Flashlight out: 3 long, 2 short
and then in the clearing, he saw them
they came
running
It was in the summer of '89, an escape in the dawn
He was the guy who crept through the night
and cut holes in the fence
On the Hungarian border
in the first light of daybreak
only a bolt cutter was necessary
for holes in the fence
in the summer of '89
As soon as they were through the fence
they ran as fast as possible with the children
until the last lanterns
14 people, 3 families
no champagne corks, no confetti celebration
only enormous relief and even larger exhaustion
They went together to the bus station, sat down on the benches
and waited on the bus to Vienna at 6:22
they barely spoke due to fatige
just once one of the children asked him
what the phrase on his Dead Kennedys t-shirt meant
As the bus arrived on time, he gave one of the fathers his Vienna city map
with the German embassy's address circled
He split his last shillings across the 3 families
and wished them a good life
They thanked him with tears in their eyes over and over for everything
in a language and a dialect he could barely understand
He assumed at the time that it was Saxon 1
It was in the summer of '89, an escape in the dawn
He was the guy who crept through the night
and cut holes in the fence
On the Hungarian border
in the first light of daybreak
only a bolt cutter was necessary
for holes in the fence
in the summer of '89
Back in Hamburg, a "on the one hand, well, on the other" discussion
at the table of the flat share with his friends
On the one hand, the action was of course well-meaning
because of the families and such
But on the other hand a German reunification and the developments in the last few weeks, a huge mistake
Germany should never again be a power bloc in the middle of Europe
and this helping East German citizens escape
would only contribute to further destabilization of the relationship
So, like I said "the action was from a human perspective understandable
but still wrong."
He slammed his flat hand on the tabletop
and said as quietly as was still possible:
"You all know that that's bullshit
They leave everything behind and they flee and maybe..."
He paused briefly and deliberated
if he should say the last sentence
but not a single word more
A complete hush came over them
The others exchanged looks, some smiled gently
Someone even gingerly put a hand on his shoulder
Seconds passed
He got up, left the room
Jacket, door, stairwell, air
He took his old Ford Granada
and was never seen again
The rest is history
It was in the summer of '89, an escape in the dawn
It was in the summer of '89 and he cut holes in the fence
They came for kiwis and bananas
For the constitution and free elections
For real estate with no value
They came for Udo Lindenberg
For the VW with 7 seats
For the bad "East German jokes"
They came for trips around the world
For welfare and Begrüßungsgeld 2
They came for "know-it-all Western German phrases"
For the new built-in kitchen
and exactly for this dream
he cut holes in the fence
1. Saxon is a dialect of German from Saxony in the east2. Begrüßungsgeld was money paid by the German federal government (formerly West Germany) to the new citizens from the east after reunification. Literally "welcome money."