Seventh Friday in custody. The Bakelite program continues. Yard time, chatting, brooding. All Quiet in the Eastern Jail.

In 1981, “Dad” acquired a piece of land on the outskirts of a village near Naumburg. It was located on a steep slope with a magnificent view of Schönburg on the Saale River.

In order to build on it, he needed accommodation. To this end, he smuggled a construction trailer and materials out of Buna. The problem was the difficult accessibility of his oasis.

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Although he had kicked my now 20-year-old brother out of the house years ago, he wasn’t too proud to ask him for help. Andi had studied agricultural engineering and could drive anything with wheels. To be on the safe side, he brought a friend along.

The challenge was to maneuver the construction trailer through a sloping forest along muddy paths and position it between trees so that it was as close as possible to the future construction site.

The maneuvering took hours. In the end, “Dad” made fun of the two of them, saying that, in his unsolicited opinion, they had been clumsy. Andi’s buddy told him to his face that he hoped he’d get hit by a landslide. No good deed goes unpunished.

Then it was my turn. Over many months, we cleared the ground of small trees and undergrowth until we were able to dig an excavation pit with pickaxes, spades, and shovels. After that, we hauled countless stones and wheelbarrows full of sand and cement along narrow paths, makeshift stairs, and footbridges.

The hard work had one clear advantage. “Dad” gave me a long leash, which got longer and longer. At first, we started on Saturday afternoons after school. Occasionally, I was even allowed to skip school.

Later, my parents left on Friday evening – and I had the house to myself, which I mercilessly took advantage of. To make up for it, I rode my moped 45 km to help out on Saturdays and preferably rode home on Saturday evenings and sometimes on Sundays.

Back then, “Dad” had a song playing on his portable radio that gave me goosebumps: “Verdamp lang her” by BAP. Freedom can be so beautiful.

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