RE: Freedom
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My dear friend, your writing took me back many years and I remembered the beautiful lyrics of Nino Bravo's song LIBRE "FREE". A tear ran down my cheek and in my chest a pang for what is today my homeland…
Nino Bravo's song Libre «Free» is inspired by the story of Peter Fechter, a young boy of just over 18, “almost twenty”, who was the first German to try to jump over the newly opened Berlin Wall in 1962. He arrived at the wall accompanied by a friend, Helmut Kubelik, who fortunately did manage to get over it, but Peter, once he “spread his wings” and climbed over it, was stopped by the German soldiers, but as the song says “he was marching so happily that he did not hear the voice that called him” and so, when the stop was not heeded, they fired on the young man who was hit by several shots and fell from the wall into what was called the “no man's zone”.
There he lay there in full view of everyone, citizens, journalists and soldiers, begging for help while he was bleeding to death, unable to move due to the seriousness of his wounds, and with no one daring to pick him up. The Westerners were afraid of being shot at in this new situation and only dared to throw him a first-aid kit, which was of no use to an almost dying Peter Fechter, who was becoming less and less alive by the minute.
The Russians to whom the dead zone belonged waited for an interminable 50 minutes of the young man's agony until they proceeded to pick him up, a moment that is captured in the photo accompanying the text.
The people of Berlin who witnessed the scene shouted at both sides to remedy the young man's death, but no one did anything, even the Western forces prevented any civilians from coming to his aid. In the end, only flowers were left at the scene, thrown by outraged Berliners.
He would not be the last to die at the wall, 260 more were to follow. The last person to die on this long list was Chris Gueffroy, in 1989, who was curiously also twenty years old… Today there is a monument on the site where Peter fell, and there is also a song whose lyrics are worth rereading from this new perspective.
Nino Bravo, wrote it after being impressed by the images of the event that appeared in the world press.
But I am glad to hear that at least the choice is freedom. With sadness I send you a fraternal embrace full of blessings.
I didn't know the story behind the song. It had been a long time since I had listened to Nino Bravo, an author I listened to a lot in the past. Here we continue to strive to keep the flame of freedom alive. Thank you very much for stopping by and enriching the publication with your comment dear @amigoponc . A big hug from Maracay.