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Labeled ‘Anti-Social’
My twelfth weekend in jail. Another 27 ahead of me if I have to serve the full sentence. In eight weeks, I’ll be halfway there. It will be at least another 14 before I can expect deportation or ransom.
The German edition of 1984, The 18-Year-Old Who Wrote a Note and Disappeared is now available in bookshops: 📖 https://j4b.me/1984
My new “subtenant” is much smarter than I imagined a real “anti-social” person to be. The few I know loiter around supermarkets stores on weekdays and are dead drunk by late morning.
“Assi Blaschi” acts paternal. But just like my stepfather, he comes across like a schoolmaster. Unlike “Dad,” at least he doesn’t try to take me for a fool. Still, his old-fashioned wisdom gets on my nerves.
Because I don’t like what he knows. For example, that the “Asozialenparagraf (anti-social clause)” 249 is one of the most malicious rubber clauses the republic has ever seen.
Anything that doesn’t quite fit into political pigeonhole such as “Ungesetzliche Sammlung von Nachrichten (illegal collection of information)” (§ 98), “Staatsfeindliche Hetze (subversive agitation)” (§ 106), “Ungesetzlicher Grenzübertritt (illegal border crossing)” (§ 213), “Ungesetzliche Verbindungsaufnahme (Illegal establishment of connections)” (§ 219) or “Öffentliche Herabwürdigung (Public denigration)” (§ 220) can, in case of doubt, be punished as “Gefährdung der öffentlichen Ordnung durch asoziales Verhalten (endangering public order through antisocial behavior)” (§ 249).
The really perverse thing about this is that the label “Assi (lowbrow)” sticks with you for life. Whether you’re a homeless vagrant, a drunken slacker, or an abnormal deviant, “anti-social” sounds ugly in any case.
From that point of view, I have been very lucky to have been politically ennobled – just as I had planned (see Wednesday, March 7). I will hardly have to justify myself in the West for “attempted illegal border crossing,” aka “escape from the republic.”
However, the wind can change at any time. For example, if they let me out in October as normal and force me to do some dirty work that will destroy me. It mustn’t come to that.
That’s why I wrote to my parents yesterday to tell them that I had been sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment on March 12. I took the opportunity to renew my third or fourth “application for permanent departure from the GDR.”
This time without political prose as in my earlier letters to the Stasi, but with reference to the Helsinki Final Act on my freedom of travel. Just as my lawyer whispered to me before the trial.
In a week, it will be Sunday again. Then there will only be 26 weeks until the bitter end and seven until halftime. And with a little luck, only 13 until great freedom.
In any case, there will still be many opportunities to quietly hum “Sonntag (Sunday)” by Manfred Krug:
“Sonntag – häng deinen Mantel in den Spind (hang your coat in the locker) / Sonntag – der Wind ist heute wärmer (the wind is warmer today) / Alle Blumen blühen (All the flowers are blooming) und der Frühling ist da (and spring is here)...”
Once Upon a Time in Germany, A Prequel to 1984, The 18-Year-Old Who Wrote a Note and Disappeared is now available in bookshops: 📖 https://j4b.me/doom
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tjannot.substack.com/subscribe
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By Tommy H. JannotMy twelfth weekend in jail. Another 27 ahead of me if I have to serve the full sentence. In eight weeks, I’ll be halfway there. It will be at least another 14 before I can expect deportation or ransom.
The German edition of 1984, The 18-Year-Old Who Wrote a Note and Disappeared is now available in bookshops: 📖 https://j4b.me/1984
My new “subtenant” is much smarter than I imagined a real “anti-social” person to be. The few I know loiter around supermarkets stores on weekdays and are dead drunk by late morning.
“Assi Blaschi” acts paternal. But just like my stepfather, he comes across like a schoolmaster. Unlike “Dad,” at least he doesn’t try to take me for a fool. Still, his old-fashioned wisdom gets on my nerves.
Because I don’t like what he knows. For example, that the “Asozialenparagraf (anti-social clause)” 249 is one of the most malicious rubber clauses the republic has ever seen.
Anything that doesn’t quite fit into political pigeonhole such as “Ungesetzliche Sammlung von Nachrichten (illegal collection of information)” (§ 98), “Staatsfeindliche Hetze (subversive agitation)” (§ 106), “Ungesetzlicher Grenzübertritt (illegal border crossing)” (§ 213), “Ungesetzliche Verbindungsaufnahme (Illegal establishment of connections)” (§ 219) or “Öffentliche Herabwürdigung (Public denigration)” (§ 220) can, in case of doubt, be punished as “Gefährdung der öffentlichen Ordnung durch asoziales Verhalten (endangering public order through antisocial behavior)” (§ 249).
The really perverse thing about this is that the label “Assi (lowbrow)” sticks with you for life. Whether you’re a homeless vagrant, a drunken slacker, or an abnormal deviant, “anti-social” sounds ugly in any case.
From that point of view, I have been very lucky to have been politically ennobled – just as I had planned (see Wednesday, March 7). I will hardly have to justify myself in the West for “attempted illegal border crossing,” aka “escape from the republic.”
However, the wind can change at any time. For example, if they let me out in October as normal and force me to do some dirty work that will destroy me. It mustn’t come to that.
That’s why I wrote to my parents yesterday to tell them that I had been sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment on March 12. I took the opportunity to renew my third or fourth “application for permanent departure from the GDR.”
This time without political prose as in my earlier letters to the Stasi, but with reference to the Helsinki Final Act on my freedom of travel. Just as my lawyer whispered to me before the trial.
In a week, it will be Sunday again. Then there will only be 26 weeks until the bitter end and seven until halftime. And with a little luck, only 13 until great freedom.
In any case, there will still be many opportunities to quietly hum “Sonntag (Sunday)” by Manfred Krug:
“Sonntag – häng deinen Mantel in den Spind (hang your coat in the locker) / Sonntag – der Wind ist heute wärmer (the wind is warmer today) / Alle Blumen blühen (All the flowers are blooming) und der Frühling ist da (and spring is here)...”
Once Upon a Time in Germany, A Prequel to 1984, The 18-Year-Old Who Wrote a Note and Disappeared is now available in bookshops: 📖 https://j4b.me/doom
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tjannot.substack.com/subscribe