Wolf Biermann in Boston

On Wednesday October 28, 2009 I was invited to attend the opening reception of the exhibit “Berlin — City of Change” at Logan International Airport in Boston. The exhibit is part of the beBerlin capital city campaign and will be on display in Terminal E until December 11, 2009. The opening was attended by German as well as American government officials, executives, expatriates, and people interested the fall of the Berlin Wall or American/German relations in general.

Should your travels bring you to Logan, and you have time to swing by Terminal E, the exhibit is certainly worth checking out – although you will not see any elaborate “Berlin Wall Designs”. The exhibition consists out of large display boards in the departure section of Terminal E and presents pictures of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, along with historical information and facts about Berlin – which (since reunification in 1989) has grown into a truly unique European cosmopolitan center, offering a myriad of cultural, academic, and business opportunities.

Highlight of the opening ceremony was undoubtedly the presence of, and a performance by, German recording artist and political activist Wolf Biermann. Born in 1936, he sang a few songs and shared his experiences from living in East Germany, both during pre- and post-wall construction phases (read more about his bio by clicking here).

Nearly 75 years of age, Mr. Biermann impresses with the enthusiasm and spirit of a 20-something year old. His eyes are full of life and his ability to tell a story (in English or German) is second to none! His oldest child is 55 years old; his youngest is 8 (!). I believe he has 10 children in total.

Towards the end of the event, after most people had left, Mr. Biermann joined a discussion between Friedrich Löhr, Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany, and a few of the other remaining attendees, including myself. Mr. Biermann immediately captured our full attention and proceeded with sharing details about his life in East Germany, his run-ins with the STASI (secret police) and his adventures as a political activist.

One of his stories went into detail about how the secret police in East Germany used to be obsessed with keeping a tab on his every move. Caring neighbors that lived below him in his apartment building used to give him a heads up by letting him know when “people were working” on their ceilings – the space right below his apartment. These “people” were installing wires and bugs, and eventually listened to, documented, and recorded every single aspect of Mr. Biermann’s life –from the most trivial of daily tasks to the most intimate & private – including spying on his love life. Nothing was off limits!

One night, he and his friends followed and traced all the wires that came from different parts of the apartment complex. The skinny wires, neatly twisted together, all led to a single hole in the wall in the building’s basement and disappeared somewhere under the street in front of the building. At the point where the surveillance wires left the building, the tightly twisted thread had grown as thick as a tree trunk…

Besides being truly impressed with Mr. Biermann’s enthusiasm for life, and his great energy level, there was one other thing I noticed: He kept writing things in a little 3 x 5 book. It also contained pictures and – shrunken down to size – copies of articles and documents. He explained that for nearly every single day, since the 1950’s, he managed to record his life (often in real-time) including thoughts, ideas, events etc. into a journal. He said he has used various types of notebooks over the years, from large to very small, but he stayed consistent with recording everything noteworthy. His home is filled with volumes upon volumes…

Even on that day, October 28, 2009, which must have been 15,000 days after he started to first journal, Mr. Biermann was recording away: Neatly, and with great precision.