"HEIMAT 3" " A CHRONICLE OF ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS" "A SIX-PART FILM B Y EDGAR REITZ" "On the evening of 9th November, 1 989 I conducted a concert at Berlin's Philharmonic Hall" "Outside, having said goodbye to the composer and my assistant I felt a strange vibration spreading through Berlin's night air" "It was as if cries of jubilation were approaching, cries that I couldn't yet hear but that my nervous system sensed" "I gradually realised that this city was in the middle of a change" "Savigny Square..." "I can't believe I've lived to see this!" "I can't believe it!" "Calm down" "Savigny Square..." "I went to my hotel and felt the cries of jubilation approaching" "And I knew  from that moment on that our life in Germany would change" "Applications for private trips abroad can be made regardless of criteria such as reasons for travel" "Permits will be issued at short notice" "The passport and registration offices have been instructed to issue visas without delay free of charge and with a minimum of paperwork..." "CIarissa?" "Is it you?" "Hermann?" "What are you doing in Berlin?" "I want to know, Tonight of all nights, Here?" "I've just conducted Schubert" "And I've just sung Schubert" "CIarissa, is it really you?" "Tell me you're real and not a dream" "That night, when the world held its breath I saw Clarissa again" "As students, we had been lovers" "Full of desire and caught up in contradictions, we lost contact in the seventies" "For years, we had gone our separate ways through the world" "We had become famous musicians, started families and destroyed them again, found new friends and left them" "We lived in hotel rooms and we felt more at home in airports than in our own flats" "We had not seen each other for seventeen years but we had never forgotten each other" "The fall of the Berlin Wall on TV our embraces in the hotel room, our kisses the rejoicing in the streets, it was all connected and it blended into a picture of our renewed love" "This is all just for us" "Since the Wall was built on 1 3th August, 1 96 1 we have longed for this day to come" "We Germans are now the happiest people in the world" "Have you remarried?" "How is your daughter doing?" "Do you have any other children?" "I don't know anything about you" "Basically, I live out of suitcases like you" "Bloom in the splendour Of this happiness" "Bloom, my German Fatherland" "Hermann, I have to tell you something" "It was five years ago, in the summer of 1 984" "During a concert tour I discovered the most beautiful spot in the world" "I felt I could spend the rest of my life there" "There was a house, a cosy little half-timbered house with the most amazing view" "Things like that happen, You stand there and you just know" "So, did you buy the house?" "Of course not" "Why not?" "What was the catch?" "You, You were the catch" "Maybe it's still for sale" "Let's go and see" "Only one lane?" "We want to cross" "How much longer?" "Not long ago they would shoot you here" "Good luck, gentlemen!" "PART ONE" " THE HAPPIEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD" "Our destination was a dream house that stood high above the Rhine surrounded by vines and very old trees" "I had discovered it on a tour a few years before" "Immediately I had loved the 200-year-old house" "My suppressed longing for love and security was awakened" "I sensed that Hermann also needed to find a place he could call home" "So that we could end this life on the road that we were used to as busy musicians" "We were in the prime of life, and our love needed a home" "Sleeping, I am carried" "To my homeland" "I come from afar" "Over peaks, over gorges" "Over a dark ocean" "To my homeland" "I know this place" "Hermann had often told me how he ran away from his home in Hunsrück at the age of nineteen" "He left as a protest against the confinement of the village" "He swore he would conquer the world of music and never return here again" "It must have been the magic of our reunion that made him agree to this trip unaware that he was following me back to the land of his childhood" "It's St Martin's Day, That's why there are fires" "As if they were expecting you" "The smell brings back the names of all those towns" "That's Bornich over there and next to it is Weisel and on the horizon is Perscheid, Dellhofen" "That's Pfalz Castle near Kaub and Ravensburg Castle" "Schön Castle, which reminds me of a story" "I was fifteen, out on my sledge and this tooth back here broke off" "We were racing our sledges down the winding road and right into the vineyard with blonde Gertrud, who I was in love with and Heinz, who ended up with her" "Does the name Karoline von Günderrode ring a bell?" "One of the Romantic poets" "Apparently she once owned the house" "The present owner, Mr Wallauer, told me" "He said she stabbed herself by the river and drowned" "Because of heartache" "The valley's full of "shtories" -"Shtories"?" "I could tell you some "shtories"" "New "shtories" come to mind every "shtep" I take" "For years I just wanted to leave here" "To leave the confinement of the village" "To leave my family, my brothers who stifled me" "To leave the arrogant teachers and my mother who always wanted the best for me but never let me grow up" "The house was in better shape when I first discovered it" "I already signed the agreement, Is it still valid?" "CIarissa, I want to stop running away" "Can you feel it, Hermann?" "Everything is possible now" "Since Berlin, I know we can achieve anything" "Hundreds of thousands of people are starting a new life now" "They have been waiting for years" "Suddenly happiness falls from the sky and lands at their feet" "Why wasn't it yesterday?" "Why wasn't it years ago?" "When love comes late in life..." "Time to put an end to this eternal longing" "You and me" "No more hotel rooms." "We'll unpack our suitcases for good" "Hermann are you afraid?" "No... no..." "When I didn't hear from you again, I went up there myself and wondered what an artist like you would want with a place like that" "Then I realised it was possible to turn it into a dream home" "For my retirement, perhaps" "But then everything started" "Terrible restrictions from the Historical Monuments Office" "There were reports about the structure, state of the ground reports on water rights, right of way, the house itself..." "I have an album full of reports" "The architect, a professor of architectural history refused to even estimate what it would cost" "Do you realise what that means?" "The house would have to be taken apart and every piece numbered before it could be rebuilt" "Cheers" "Cheers" "And all these rumours" "Rumours?" "That the house is haunted" "That the poet put a curse on it, even though she never lived there" "It's all nonsense, I checked" "She lived with the Bretanos, thirty kilometres away and died there too, in Winkel" "So forget the poet, Stupid people and their gossip" "All that romanticism is just a misunderstanding" "The next day was Sunday 1 2th November, 1 989" "A day we'll never forget in the calendar of our life" "We met Mr Wallauer at the ruin" "Damp walls and beams, rubble and mould" "The remains of a lost age - that's all there was" "Wallauer must have thought we were mad to buy a house full of pigeons and rats for rebuilding" "He predicted it would take lots of work and money but we didn't heed his warning" "Have you seen the foundations?" "You can't say later you didn't know, Pitt, you know what to do" "How about shaking hands like horse traders used to?" "We agree, don't we?" "The original price" "Pitt, you're our witness" "Look over here!" "Yes, I see you" "Done, That was it" "When you left the house and went up the hill you came to a sweeping landscape of hills and fields" "Hunsrück" "I seemed to have come full circle" "Without really wanting to, I had come home" "The wounds had long since healed" "I wondered if it even mattered after all those years" "I had become a stranger, and no one here expected to see me now" "We are doing something without having any idea how it will fit into our daily lives" "You're right" "I have fourteen more concerts before Christmas" "From Wednesday on, I'll hardly have any days off" "Schabbach" "That close?" "Drive to Leipzig, I'll do it on my own" "I wanted to take Clarissa to Schabbach but she had to leave that morning for a concert in Leipzig" "We had just found one another again, and we were already saying goodbye" "From home Behind the flashes of red" "Clouds are drawing near" "But Father and Mother are long dead" "No one there knows me any more" "How soon, how soon Will that stillness come" "When I too shall rest" "When I too shall rest" "And over me will rustle" "The beautiful forest's loneliness" "The beautiful forest's loneliness" "No one here knows me any more" "No one here knows me any more" "Look at what things they're giving them" "Hermann!" "Are you joining the demonstration?" "Hello, Rudi..." "My goodness" "Tell me, what are these Dutch guys doing here?" "They're our neighbours" "Those missiles and nuclear warheads hidden in the forest" "The Dutch are more scared than we are although we're sitting on them" "Why don't you come inside?" "Haven't seen you for ages, Hermann!" "Rudi Molz owned the only restaurant in Schabbach" "I would say he was the soul of the village" "He knew about everything everything that had happened and everything that would happen" "Within a few minutes my homecoming was complete" "There was nothing sentimental or dramatic about it" "You could travel around the world but for the people of Schabbach you had just been "gone for a bit"" "It said in the newspaper that you conducted at the Metropolitan in New York" "Yes, that's right" "Our pastor is at least as famous as you are, Hermann" "Well, at least in Hunsrück, Everybody knows him, Right, Lena?" "And I mean everybody!" "He's practically the leader of the whole peace movement from Mainz down south all the way up to Koblenz" "Right, I forgot all about it" "The Americans and the Pershings, They're all still here" "That's right, They have been here for over forty years" "They're stepping up the arms race" "The Berlin Wall's coming down and the Cold War's ending but they want a shelter here for a nuclear counter-attack" "You've heard of Hermann Simon, haven't you, Father?" "That's him, Today of all days!" "How long has it been, Hermann?" "Well, my name's Simon" "pleased to meet you" "I'm about to build a house right on top of this powder keg" "We know all about it" "That dilapidated house of Wallauer's, the Günderrode house" "You bought it with that singer" "What's your wife's name, Hermann?" "Lena, don't be so nosy" "My childhood home" "All roads went past the blacksmith's place" "The Simons were the town's blacksmiths" "My grandfather, my great-grandfather and a long line of ancestors had always lived here and then suddenly produced a runaway like myself" "I hadn't been here for twenty years" "The house" "Obviously it was unoccupied" "The stable" "The barn" "It was strange that the door was open" "Behind the house was a building with a large stable for horses for high-quality racehorses that they never used to have in Hunsrück" "Ernst?" "Ernst" "My brother Ernst was an enthusiastic pilot" "When he was fifteen he was already flying gliders and soon he was flying fighter planes in the air force" "Ernst has always owned a plane ever since I can remember" "I had never seen his house by the river which Rudi Molz said he had bought a few years before" "The villagers thought Ernst was odd" "Hermann?" "I heard you want to settle here, and that you bought yourself a house" "How do you know?" "In Hunsrück, people beat drums, just like in Africa" "Pull" "Thanks" "Hi, brother" "Hi, Ernst" "It looks as if I'm returning to the haunts of my childhood" "You're right about the house" "And who's the mysterious singer?" "CIarissa, You'll meet her" "Hermann, why are you doing this?" "I always admired you" "You were the only one of us to get out of here" "You gave up everything here, went off on your own and were reborn" "It wasn't what Father and Mother and all the relatives and traditions had planned for you" "That was a long time ago" "I got far enough away from all of you to dare to come back" "I need a place to rest, and I came here by chance" "And believe it or not, I'm glad to be here" "Listen, Hermann" "See that fence back there towards the village?" "That does it for me" "If I didn't have my plane I would be old and dusty like the nettles by the roadside" "But you stayed here all your life" "Come on, Have some coffee" "It would have been a family scandal if after seeing my brother Ernst, I hadn't visited my other brother the wealthy factory owner, Anton" "Anton was the famous Hunsrück tycoon the founder of Simon's Lenses and the patriarch of a large family that I hadn't seen for decades" "This is Gisela" "You remember her, don't you?" "Yes" "Dieter, Careful, he's a lawyer" "Hi" "Marlies and Lothar, He's harmless - he makes furniture" "That's Helga and Hans" "They ended up as teachers but they do have nice kids, Christine and Susanne" "Then there's Katharina and Hanna" "They subsidise listed buildings especially as you'll be good publicity for the state" "Don't trust the construction mafia, Ask me before you go to any builder" "After building my house in Gemünden, I know every trick" "There are huge price differences" "Lothar is a bargain hunter" "And if you need furniture, everybody knows my company" "I'll give you thirty per cent off" "And I'll tell you how to get a tax write-off" "As far as I know, you'll get money from the EEC" "The Günderrode story will help you" "It's world cultural heritage, whether it's true or not, right?" "Yes" "So, it's time you said hello to Mara" "Hermann, our music star..." "Mara, our star on horseback" "Hi" "How do you do?" "My favourite daughter-in-Iaw" "I'm Mara" "I'm Hermann" "Cheers" "Hermann..." "You must have noticed those horses at the house aren't just old nags" "They're well-trained show horses" "None of them is worth less than half a million" "You'll have to go and see Mara and Hartmut's house" "It's the new house next door" "You'll probably never see as many trophies and prizes as they have in the glass cabinet" "Mara has won dozens of tournaments" "Father-in-Iaw" "He always has to show off about me" "Your company is very impressive - huge, lots of employees, Well done" "The final assembly of the lenses takes place here" "Very intricate work" "We also have a branch in Ingelheim a branch in Marseilles and offices in seven countries" "Absolutely precise" "Come here, Hermann" "Hold this and now this" "Half as big, but twice as powerful" "Aspherical lenses" "Without spherical lenses?" "You remember?" "I'm impressed" "You know what my problem is?" "The second generation" "If you know what I mean..." "Every word and every gesture said, "You went away..." ""...but you'll always be one of us, no matter what you do or think"" "I longed for Clarissa" "SPECIAL CONCERT - SONGS OF EMIGRATION" "We are the people!" "We are the people!" "My concert in Leipzig had been planned for over a year" "Few musicians from the West were allowed to perform there so I was especially looking forward to that evening" "In Leipzig, after my long trip through the awakening East one of the Monday demonstrations was underway" "My concert was cancelled" "I had to accept it" "It was impossible at that time for people to sit still in concert halls" "They were on the move and demanding their freedom" "They wanted to control their lives and determine their own future" "The director and I had no choice, Mrs Lichtblau" "We sold so few tickets" "Don't misunderstand me, whatever you do, Mrs Lichtblau" "I welcome this new development and support it wholeheartedly but this lack of interest in cultural events is disgraceful" "Mrs Wurz, come here, please" "Do you want a refund?" "No, I need the toilet" "Sorry, it's not a public toilet" "I felt out of place." "I didn't belong here" "I had to think of Hermann and our dream house" "I wondered if it would be the place of rest we were both longing for" "The crowd is marching around the ring road again station, secret police offices, new town hall and then back here" "You... you aren't from here, are you?" "Are you a reporter?" "That's Mrs Lichtblau, the Western singer they cancelled" "You should know that" "please don't laugh, please don't" "You've no idea what's been going on" "You see, Mr Masur's announcement has ensured that the demonstrations are peaceful" "But what didn't the media report?" "The real truth" "Come here, Gunnar, Leave the lady alone" "No, you come here" "As sure as I'm sitting here, I said to our "boss" on 9th October..." ""Conductor, think about where our replacements will come from" ""Today there's the Monday demo, and the army's on alert" ""If they beat us up, you'll be stuck"" "How could he replace us?" "You see, I'm a joiner, a tiler, a scaffold builder, all in one" "And Udo's a mason" "A carpenter" "A master carpenter, an all-rounder, That got Mr Masur thinking" "And in the afternoon he had a meeting with his men" "Bernd-Lutz Lange, the cabaret artist, Heard of him?" "And a clergyman..." "The priest" "Führer" "Father Führer, Hard to say" "And three Party members, Now, come on" "They wrote an appeal for non-violence but nobody mentioned me" "A thought crossed my mind" "Weren't they the craftsmen we needed for our house on the Rhine?" "I could make them an attractive offer that would really help us get things moving" "Could you imagine working for me?" "I could pay you ten marks an hour" "West German marks?" "For each of us?" "For each of you" "I have a half-timbered house that has to be taken apart" "The foundations have to be renewed and the house rebuilt as it was" "It's a listed building" "The building plans still exist" "Tomorrow?" "Yes, I've got my car here, I could take you with me" "The BMW that's outside?" "Tell me where you live and I'll pick you up" "No, I have to ask my wife first" "Come on, Udo, wake up, It's ten West German marks an hour" "You don't have to ask Mummy, What nonsense" "Hello, you must be Mrs Lichtblau" "I had arranged to pick up Gunnar and Udo the next morning" "I'm Jana Trötzsch, Udo's wife" "Hi" "And these are our boys" " Jaques" "Hello" "And Thorsten" "Would you like a sweet?" "I want to get in the car" "I had no idea how the two stagehands lived and what consequences my offer had for their families" "It was their first trip to the West, and they would be away for a while" "Udo didn't mention that he's a father" "If I had known I was taking him from his wife and children..." "That's no problem" "Now that times are changing we want our share, too" "What's taking Udo so long?" "Where is that thing?" "It looks like no one's tidied up for years!" "This is terrible!" "Petra!" "Petra!" "Where are you?" "I need your help!" "Petra!" "Looking for something?" "Are you winding me up?" "I don't go in cupboards if I'm not looking for something!" "Typical Gunnar!" "We've got to tidy up here and work out a system" "A real system" "You create chaos, then you go off" "You have messed up the place with this stupid panelling" "The saw has been in the hall since July timber in the bathroom, and your tools in the bedroom" "Gunnar, I can't open my wardrobe, I have to wear the same clothes" "One day the kids are going to sit down on the saw and hurt themselves" "Petra, who did I do all this work for?" "The panelling..." "For you!" "Getting the material was hard enough, Eighty per cent of the work is done" "Eighty per cent, Professional craftsmanship" "And you make a fuss just because it took a few weeks" "Honestly, Petra I'm disappointed" "No, you disappoint me" "The way you told me your decision this morning disappointed me" "What good would it have done if I had told you last night?" "None" "You would have made a fuss anyway, wouldn't you?" "At least I got some sleep" "Try to understand me, I can't take you with me" "Someone has to look after the kids, and in our family, you're the woman" "I don't want to come, But you could have told me earlier" "You knew about it last night" "Gunnar, that's no way to talk to a grown woman" "Petra..." "Here you go... your suitcase" "Where was it?" "Where you left it, On the wardrobe" "On the wardrobe?" "All this time you let me look for it?" "And you wonder why I'm leaving" "Time flew , and I got to know our familiar West German world through the eyes of Udo and Gunnar" "When we reached the Rhine they wanted to collect their "welcome money" a hundred marks, given to all East Germans when they entered the "Golden West"" "So that's what your IDs look like, I've never seen them before" "I want a good look now I have one" "Go ahead" "You must excuse me, but I've only seen them on TV" "Would you do us a favour?" "You're our first customers to receive the welcome money" "May we take a photo?" "We're the first ones" "Smells like it's from the West" "Smile, OK?" "We could have brought Granny" "One more" "Smile" "Know what's better about East Germany?" "No" "The national anthem" "Risen from the ruins" "And facing the future" "Let us serve you for the good" ""Germany, united Fatherland"" "If I may say so, Mrs Lichtblau, I like your national anthem, too" "Germany, Germany, above all" "Above everything in the world" "Look!" "What?" "There" "The garage?" "That blue..." "Amazing" "This is Schabbach" "Amazing" "Just like back home" "Good evening" "I have a surprise for you" "This is CIarissa Lichtblau" "I'm your brother-in-Iaw, Anton" "I've got a surprise - two young men direct from East Germany" "Udo, Gunnar, come in" "Two very good craftsmen from Leipzig's Gewandhaus" "They're experts" "Good evening" "I'm Udo" "They have agreed to build our house" "Evening, I'm Brehme" "You're from the East?" "Yes" "Come down" "Horst, Hanni, they're joining us for dinner" "East Germany is known for its tradition of craftsmanship" "Let me tell you what's for dinner" "Original Hunsrück country sausage from Kneppels AIfred for three generations the best butcher in the whole region" "That's the way to learn the flavour of Hunsrück" "black sausage and stampes" "Sometimes we eat Leipzig stew too, perhaps even better than yours" "Stampes - that's mashed potato" "Everyone has their own dialect except us" "Take your hat off" "I feel like I'm exploiting them, I offered them ten marks an hour" "I'm so excited" "Did you think we would start this soon?" "And so cheaply?" "CIarissa can become acquainted with our specialty dishes" "Hermann, show her the village tomorrow... and Soon Forest" "It's so pretty there in autumn" "So, you two... does it taste good?" "You're a factory owner?" "How many workers do you have?" "Four hundred and thirty in our main factory" "Do they ever go on strike?" "You're going to restore the Günderrode house?" "Are you familiar with historical buildings?" "We've handled harder stuff" "You bet" "Hey, Lothar, they know all about that stuff in East Germany" "Really?" "Craftsmanship is still important" "They don't do rush jobs" "Thank goodness, The way things used to be built was so much nicer" "Progress makes us all sick, Right, dear?" "We say, "Build it up, tear it down, then there's always work around!"" "I think all they do here is build things" "MOLZ GUESTHOUSE" "Good evening, Hermann" "Hello" "Good evening" "Udo Trötzsch" "If you like it, you can stay here for the next few weeks" "Come on" "The nicest guests come late" "They are nice chaps, those two" "There we are" "It will be nice and warm soon" "So, goodnight" "Goodnight" "The beds are terrific, We'll sleep like logs" "A bomb could go off and you wouldn't notice" "Gunnar, have you ever experienced as much as you have today?" "No" "What begins today..." "Ten West German marks... per hour" "We can change them one to ten at least" "Maybe even one to twelve" "That makes one hundred and twenty marks an hour!" "We've been breaking our backs for seven marks an hour" "Here, on one day, we'll be earning as much as we did in a month" "And they're all so friendly, as if they are glad we're here" "They're all so friendly" "You're right" "I wish it could be like this for ever" "They're already asleep" "Looks like a thunderstorm is brewing" "I'll go and check on the cows, They're so restless" "And I'll go up and get in your bed, so it's warm when you come" "All right, Lena, I'll be right up" "Our house needs an embankment or a hedge or a moat" "With a bridge" "A drawbridge" "No, it needs a grand piano, large windows and a fireplace" "And a soundproof basement room for you to practise singing" "Amazing!" "Pneumatic drills, quattro drills" "Angle grinders" "black  Decker" "Double milling cutter" "Hundred and twenty..." "Look at that" "Don't look at the prices" "We'll be able to afford them one day" "Look at that, What is it?" "A vacuum cleaner" "No, it's an angle grinder" "It's an angle grinder" "With a vacuum cleaner" "What a machine" "Frog green, Every colour" "Every seat is different!" "Amazing" "Here..." "Look at this, They've got barbed wire encased in plastic" "What's that for?" "Maybe to remind ex-cons of prison when they take a crap" "Look at this" ""Metal hole popper aviation shears!"" "We could use a pair" "Udo" "Look at this, Come on, look" "They have a chisel for 29,95" "So what?" "Don't you think it's a bit much for a piece of steel?" "You pay for the length, double strength..." "It's OK" "What does a chisel cost at home?" "3,50 -3,50" "Let's say 7,80, but that's not 29,95, West German marks, too" "So?" "It should work itself!" "Here's a joint filler" "As an apprentice, I never had one but our foreman said he had seen joint fillers at the shop" "So we sent one of the apprentices to buy joint fillers" "There weren't many so you couldn't buy more than two" "And the quality..." "We wanted tools from the West" "This joint filler, a 1 2mm one" "Or this carpentry hammer that doesn't break apart when you hit concrete" "Look, this is a world-class chisel" "CIarissa" "Your brother was taken aback because I wanted the truck because I can drive it although I'm a singer and because I moved out of the guest room" "All right?" "Yes" "My God" "Morning" "Hi, boss!" "I have the approved building plans" "Jana and I thought all summer about heading West with the boys" "Those pictures on TV got us thinking" "Do you want to collect your family?" "No, they'll stay there" "Especially now" "What a beautiful spot" "The view, the vineyards, the peacefulness" "I've travelled so much, Why did I end up back here?" "Why not move to Tuscany or Brittany or some Greek island?" "Why here?" "It's obvious" "You don't need to explain who you are" "To them, you were never gone, You were just travelling" "Nice" "I can't get this crap out!" "An old wine press" "The stuff they stuck in here has been here for centuries" "And these pigeons are driving me mad" "The filling is made of straw and clay" "That's how they always did it" "We'll use gypsum boards" "Don't worry, We'll mess things up" "I don't know, but silicon joints don't last long here" "You have to replace them after five years" "We have generations of experience" "We shouldn't pretend we know better" "Birken... what kind of clay?" "Birkenfeld clay" "But the clay pit closed down, It's a paper mill now" "Gunnar!" "Oh, there you are, Careful" "The filling is Birkenfeld clay Rudi says" "Are you familiar with it?" "No, you're the boss" "Watch it, pal" "The stones are slate" "They used them to make castles in the Middle Ages" "They usually last a thousand years" "Usually" "Every couple of centuries there's an earthquake here" "You can feel it as far south as Bingerbrück" "Very nice" "Mr Simon we need somebody to help us with historical building methods" "Rubbish, We'll manage all right with the clay, won't we, Rudi?" "I know a man named Tobi in Dresden" "What's his name?" "Tobi?" "Yes, he's working on the church" "Rudi, don't take it to heart, It's nothing against you" "He's a real expert" "You want to bring in more people?" "Yes, what with all the problems Birkenfeld clay, slate exterior, the stone foundations" "It's all falling apart" "Tell him to come, Call him" "Cheers!" "Cheers!" "In Berlin, where I was performing international folk songs there was a mood of endless celebration" "People came from all over the world to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall and Germany's reunification" "I was accompanied by musicians from East and West" "Berlin was now a city where people met" "Udo" "If you come through the ceiling, you'll land on my head" "If it's your head, it won't matter" "Udo!" "What now?" "If you find a treasure, we'll split it fifty-fifty" "Certainly" "And if you find one, we'll go sixty-forty, eh?" ""please come at once, Arnold arrested for breaking into a bank" ""He's accused of being a hacker, Don't know what to do, Mother"" "What's a hacker?" "My seventeen-year-old son Arnold lived with my mother in Hamburg" "I left for Hamburg immediately" "Arnold arrested?" "What could possibly have happened?" "I can swear to the court that our boy didn't leave the house" "Not even at night, I know, because I'm a very light sleeper" "Mother, he was at his computer" "The accused cracked the secret code of the Deutsche Bank and transferred one million marks to each of their accounts" "But there was no intention of fraud" "They transferred it back a day later" "That exonerates them" "That's irrelevant" "By transferring the money, they committed a crime" "My client claimed responsibility in his letter to the bank and said he was highlighting security problems" "What do you have to say?" "We wanted to show we could get in there" "And... how do you do that?" "It was simple, We used a woman's name" "What do you mean by "a woman"?" "That was the name of the bank director's secretary" "We didn't know that" "They didn't know that" "We tried out names, and the tenth name worked" "I wonder if the prosecution might be overdoing it" "They were satisfied with just entering..." "No, they weren't" "The money's been put back" "But it was taken!" "I don't know if you're experienced in handling computer crime Your Honour" "Your childhood sweetheart from the Rhine?" "That's a fantasy" "What childishness are you up to?" "You've dedicated your life to art!" "Have you forgotten?" "Can't you let me breathe for once?" "Nonsense!" "Your success confirms I was right" "And it will continue to do so" "You were always pushing me" "Why do you think I took your son in for so many years?" "To keep your options open" "I can't listen to this any more" "Then let's go home" "Don't forget what the lawyer said, It isn't over yet" "He's free, but you're responsible for him until the trial begins" "And I can't help you" "Dear Clarissa, I'm gradually starting to understand why we never met in the past few years" "The way we live doesn't give us the freedom to meet each other and to fulfil our dream of love and partnership" "The realisation that home is something truly absurd in my life makes me sad" "I'm writing this between concerts, standing on a platform waiting for my train to Basel" "I wanted to visit my daughter Lulu, who is a student here in Cologne but I don't even have enough time to do that" "When I think of our dream house I wonder what will have to change for us to be happy there" "If I hadn't taken it, you would have taken it, right, Udo?" "All right, you have a nice car" "I picked it up in Pullig near Simmern on 1 5th June, 1 966 for my fourteenth wedding anniversary with Lena" "Look what it can do" "We're in second gear" "Should I get out and push?" "It will get there" "It's your car, Gunnar" "What?" "Thanks, Rudi, I'll pay you on the first of every month" "It's still warm" "Then he's still here... your Tobi" "Who else?" "Tobi!" "So, it's you, Hello there" "My God, I haven't seen foundations like this in ages" "If a boat sounded its horn loudly this place would collapse" "Yes, I saw the foundations" "We have to tear it down and rebuild it" "Hallelujah!" "In all this confusion and chaos..." "So you're Tobi?" "They have a brilliant numbering system" "Who's that?" "Gunnar" "We had to work on it for a while before we figured it out" "Come on, I'll show you" "You see these slanted marks?" "Those are the rods" "To show where the wall is" "This is the fourth, for example" "Exactly" "And the Roman numerals are carpenter's marks" "Here's number ten and here's nine" "So you know where the beam is in the framework" "Amazing" "But why am I telling you this?" "You're the expert" "He talks too much, but he's a good man" "Who's paying for it?" "She's a singer and he's..." "He's a conductor, Ten West German marks an hour - cash" "Your method will take two years" "So what?" "It's good, old-fashioned craftsmanship" "Who knows what will happen in two years?" "Everything will be different, That's what the world is like now" "What's up?" "Can I help?" "Is there a mechanic who repairs lorries?" "Yes, Wiegand, but he usually does tractors and buses" "Good, let's go" "Off we go" "That's Tobi" "That's what he's famous for" "For what?" "He does the impossible" "And then?" "You'll see" "Right, you lot are done for!" "Yeah, kill them all" "All you bloody birds!" "COLOGNE AIRPORT 6 DECEMBER 1 989" "What is it, anyway?" "That freedom we've been searching for so many years" "It's all a fallacy" "No love, no home" "Nothing permanent for our children" "Nothing to hold on to" "Things have to change" "Arnold should spend more time with us when the house is finished" "Lulu, too" "I was always on the run" "God knows why I married so young" "Poor thing, I could never commit myself" "Yet I still have the flat in Munich" "I pay the rent, but I'm almost never there" "I'll give notice on it tomorrow" "Ah, Amsterdam!" "You have to go" "When will I see you?" "At Christmas?" "It's always a pleasure to conduct this orchestra in Amsterdam" "Good evening" "Can I have your autograph?" "Of course" "A magnificent concert" "Maestro, I came just for the concert" "Don't I know you?" "Leave my daughter alone" "I want to talk to you about it" "This isn't the proper place" "I came here just for this reason" "All right, Mrs Lichtblau" "My assistant will look after you, Do you have a place to stay?" "Don't get CIarissa involved in that ridiculous house you're building" "You must promise me that right now" "Look at me, I'm going to be seventy-six next year" "But not here, Mrs Lichtblau, This is Dr Loewe, my assistant" "He'll accompany you and help you with everything" "Meals, accommodation and a comfortable train for your trip home" "You'll have everything you need" "I have no idea what you have seen of life" "You're probably from a good family that never knew poverty" "And now you stand there looking at me as if I were mad" "Let me tell you something" "After the war, my daughter and I nearly went under in the most miserable conditions" "As refugees, we had nothing but the clothes we were wearing and - pay attention - our discipline" "That's what saved us and welded us together CIarissa, myself and the boy" "We were thrown together by fate, Do you know what that means?" "We all take care of each other" "And no one can destroy that" "I won't be abandoned like a dog" "I'm not an old pair of shoes you just throw in the bin" "I love my daughter just as much or more than her posh maestro does" "Why do you think I got on a train and came here, at my age?" "I think I understand you very well" "You think I'm a jealous monster" "I see what you're thinking" "No..." "I would like to help you" "I don't want to be alone" "My dearest" "I'm writing from Paris" "I still see you hurrying away at the airport terminal unable to say when we would meet again" "Two hours later, I was swallowed up by my rehearsal at the opera house" "Five days to the opening night and I needn't explain to you that I forget the world around me" "I love the part of Dido and I sing fearlessly and with devotion" "The role touches my soul, and sometimes I forget that she will cause us to part so many times" "One thing is clear to me, especially when we're apart" "I love you... you, Hermann" "I love only you" "Good heavens!" "It's going up" "Incredible" "slow down a bit" "And that chap comes from East Germany" "I know that, He's staying at my place" "From Dresden" "Do you even know where that is?" "Ask us older folks" "They're Germans like us" "Yes, that's great" "Easy now, Easy" "You're too fast, slow down" "Hello... hello" "Hello, I'm looking for Tobi" "They say the house is haunted" "Hello" "Hello" "Great, Great" "Your Tobi is a big help" "I told you so" "We would have needed two years" "Not quite two years" "Sod off, you bastards!" "Catbirds" "Terrible, isn't it?" "It really is" "Dearest Hermann" "I can't believe that it's only six weeks since we saw each other" "My picture of the world has completely changed" "Not long ago, nothing would have pleased me more than success on stage combined with lots of offers and trips" "Now it alarms me every time my agent calls" "Success or love" "Can't we have both?" "Can you believe it my mother has come to Paris to give me hell" "I have no idea how to pacify her now" "We can't shake off all those years" "Arnold is a wonderful boy" "I realised it during our all-night conversations when he tried to explain to me how a computer works" "I'm very fond of him and I could imagine having him near me" "Mr Günderrode!" "I promised to be with him in Hamburg on Christmas Eve" "It's my only evening off and I can't spend it with you" "Can you forgive me?" "It's floating!" "It's floating!" "It's floating!" "What's floating?" "Your house is floating" "I must take you there" "My house is floating?" "Are you sure?" "Tobi gave me his car, to fetch you" "I'm Tillmann Becker" "But I'm not a baker, I'm an electrician" "That's why I spell my name with an "e"" "I got a telegram asking me to help with your house" "I was born on 1 1 th September, 1 964, in Borna near Leipzig" "After finishing the tenth year at the polytechnic school where I had good exam results I did a two-year apprenticeship at a factory where I also did very well" "After that I worked as an electrician at the factory where I trained" "And from 1 985 to 1 986, I served in the East German army" "Then in 1 98 7, I did a welding course..." "I believe you" "Careful, careful" "As I told you, it's floating" "It's hard to believe, but the house is floating" "I even looked underneath it" "You can stick your fingers under it, Here, look at my hand" ""Socialism can move every building..." ""...and bring light to every mountain"" "I'm Tillmann" "I'm Gunnar, Want a sausage?" "They lifted it with car jacks, Look round the back" "Look all around the house" "We were driving round for three days until we found all the jacks" "From MAN and Ford, Scherer-Rudi, Raiffeisen headquarters..." "You can say that again, lt's a lot" "Hi, Udo, Tobi, You have done a great job" "Well, "tear it down and rebuild it" was never my style" "Gunnar and Udo will start removing the old foundations and making new ones" "Then it will stand for another two hundred years" "What about this?" "What about your brother?" "Could he help us with this?" "Yes, my brother Ernst, He collects things like this" "Doors, window frames, wooden beams, ornaments, panelling, fittings things that take time if you buy them new" "And another problem, If it snows, it snows" "VIENNA 1 0 DECEMBER 1 989" "Tillmann, do you want a cigar?" "I don't smoke" "Doesn't Mummy let you?" "I don't like the taste" "Come over here" "Udo has a question" "All right" "What's in your briefcase?" "What briefcase?" "Oh, come on, That doll's case you always carry around" "How old are you?" "Twenty-five" "Twenty-five!" "I don't believe it" "When I was your age, I already had two kids, Udo?" "If you're gay, Tillmann, you can tell us" "We aren't prejudiced" "I'm not gay" "Or do you need your briefcase to test your voltage?" "We're very understanding" "I'm not gay" "If you aren't gay, tell us what's in your briefcase" "We want to know who you are" "What's wrong?" "Aren't you satisfied with my work?" "Well, you're a good electrician" "Last week, when he made the slits..." "Czechs couldn't have done better" "Come on, Go and get it" "It's not here" "Oh no!" "So what's this then?" "Give me that" "I've got it, Here, Udo" "Give it back" "Pass it here" "I'm going home - tomorrow, I didn't want to stay long anyway" "Go home then, Where do you want to go?" "Zeitz?" "Homesick" "Get lost, you wimp" "Know what I think?" "He has a clarinet, I bet he's a musician" "Clarissa, my dearest" "Your letter arrived in the midst of all the construction work" "Since Tobi took over, things are really moving along" "All the fear I read between your lines is refuted by the bare facts" "There's nothing I can do except to watch as what we planted grows" "Did you know we're important members of Hunsrück's peace movement?" "Our nest is inside the military security zone of an American nuclear missile base" "People see it as a demonstration against the insane arms race that we want to build our house and live here" "We're being accepted in the community in the most respectable way" "In the next few weeks, I will try to get along without you although it's getting harder" "How was I able to fall asleep so many times without you there?" "Hermann" "Hermann" "Hermann" "Hello, good evening, Good evening" "Welcome, You are showing your love for your homeland" "It's only natural" "Wonderful" "Good evening, Rudi" "Evening, Hermann" "Look, Hermann's here" "Good evening, Hermann" "Lord, give us your peace" "Lord, give us your peace" "Now we're linked throughout Rhineland-Palatinate" "Maybe even further..." "all the way to Mutlangen" "I think we've got visitors" "Exorbitant..." "Hi, Rudi" "Hi, Did you bring the snow?" "No, we just left Brussels, My assistant, Dr Loewe" "Hello, A fantastic concert with three thousand people" "My God, three thousand..." "Everything's covered, lt's finished, Except for the chimney" "Pull the sheet right over the chimney" "We've just finished" "I had to see how you were doing" "glad you're here, We have no money" "That's why I came" "The money for the building material, Here you are" "This is for Tillmann and Tobi" "A bonus, from CIarissa too" "Mr Simon!" "So you won't have to wait until Christmas" "please, look around" "The whole ground floor is new" "And where you're standing is the new basement ceiling" "It's all concrete" "And right where you're standing is the kitchen drain" "It's all finished" "We saved this beam here, even though it's old" "And we used the chimney for support" "Tillmann made the slits" "Exactly, For the wiring" "electrical installation" "The kid's a genius" "Here" "Hey!" "This is like Christmas and Easter all at once" "Thank you" "Thank you, Mr Simon" "There you are" "That's Jana..." "Udo's wife" "These are his two sons" " Thorsten and... tell him yourself" "Jaques" "That's my wife, Petra and Jennifer and Nadine" "Can you remember all that, Mr..." "Dr Loewe" "Yes, that's Petra..." "That's Petra..." "See you later, Udo?" "All I can remember is Petra" "Oh, you're from Munich?" "I'd love to see the alps" "Why don't you come along?" "We have a concert there tomorrow" "You won't believe it" "The maestro and I thought you could all come to Munich for Christmas" "But how?" "We all have to sleep somewhere" "My mother has a huge apartment, There's room for everybody" "And the alps are so beautiful, You're right - you have to see them" "Why not?" "It's almost Christmas, The foundations are finished" "We should seize the opportunity!" "We're going to Munich" "In the BMW?" "I don't know" "Thorsten, we're going in the BMW" "Let's tell Dad" "Tell me you found the problem" "There are martens here" "They seem to like Volkswagen spark plug wires" "I've fixed it temporarily, so you'll make it to Munich" "Thanks, Tillmann" "Get in" "OK, listen, Mum and I are going in the Beetle" "You two can ride in the BMW" "Yes!" "Have you had a wee?" "No" "We don't want to have to stop, Do you need to?" "No" "That's good" "Nadine, a Volkswagen spark plug wire with insulating tape" "A marten Christmas dinner" "To them, it tastes like fried chicken and fries, Watch" "Can I help you?" "Will we meet your girlfriend?" "Regards to your wife" "Won't you come with us?" "The train connections are great" "No thanks, Mr Simon, I'm not keen on family Christmases" "I told Moni from Oberwesel we would spend Christmas together" "Thanks" "OK, all the best" "It's nicer when there's a woman around" "Take care, boys" "Merry Christmas!" "Don't overdo it" "Leave some work for us" "We will" "Here's to a happy new era" "It was a good year for us" "We had the biggest turnover since the agency was founded thanks to our maestro Hermann Simon, who conducted eighty-three concerts for us..." "Eighty-four, Mother, You forgot today's Christmas concert" "And twelve recordings, Your good health!" "Thank you, Mrs Loewe, but we'll have to do less next year" "You stare at my fingers" "I may be a labourer, but I don't have paws, Right, Petra?" "What did you like about me first?" "Come on, tell them, It was my hands" "A gynaecologist's hands" "That's what you said" "Hey, who's that?" "Know where I learned how to play?" "At Leipzig's best music academy" "My dad was the caretaker" "Whenever lessons were cancelled, I was allowed to play" "I practised until I could play properly" "Dad said, "Pound on it"" "Not again" "I never won any prizes, but if you ever need a pianist I'll play for you anytime for free but not in vain" "May I use your telephone?" "Of course, lt's in the library" ""1 989, smiley..."" "You know all these languages?" "Want anything more to eat?" "Or not?" "Then I'll clear the table" "Are you still homesick?" "With you here, I feel something else" "Your mother in Zeitz is very sad without you" "Maybe" "But if I was at my mother's without you maybe I would be sad" "We don't want that to happen" "Enjoy the view, Enjoy the views" "Amazing!" "Magnificent, It's never looked so good" "Really?" "You're lucky" "We Germans are the luckiest people in the world" "And I'm the luckiest German" "Standing here like this, I really believe it" "Know what?" "Reunification will come sooner than you think" "In less than five years Germany will be united" "When I think about last Christmas!" "We're so lucky" "What's Gunnar doing?" "From the Alps to the North Sea" "From the Oder to the Rhine" "Germany, my Fatherland" "My homeland" "Germany, we're coming!" "My comrades, I have to tell you something" "In the presence of these mountains, I'll confess a secret" "Know why I can imitate Honecker?" "No" "My grandparents lived in Suhl, Like every kid, I wanted to yodel" "I got that far, always up and down, That's yodelling" "If your voice doesn't come back up, that's Honecker" "Do it again!" "Mum, I'm cold" "Jump about and you'll warm up" "Thanks, Mr Loewe" "Reinhold" "We'll wait at the bottom, Take the next one" "Your nose often bleeds, doesn't it?" "I know, Not very masculine" "It's best if you lean back, You can lean on my shoulder" "Like this?" "That's good" "I learned that in CD lessons" "CD?" "What's that?" "Civil defence" "There you are" "Not in that one either" "I don't believe it" "Mr Simon, I'm going up again" "We've been standing here so long, What are they doing?" "I don't know, but don't worry, She'll come down" "I'm going up" "It's too expensive" "I'm going home" "You don't know what happened" "I'm not waiting any longer!" "So, are you happy now?" "Are you driving back alone?" "I am alone" "You're being stupid" "Transport problems now" "I want to be with Daddy!" "Is this the right thing to do?" "Don't be afraid" "I'm here for all of you" "CIarissa" "What about the theatre?" "Your performance?" "You have a temperature" "Tired?" "No" "Jaques, come on" "I'll never leave you alone again" "I know what you want - a good start to the New Year!" "Happy New Year 1 990!" "PART ONE" " THE HAPPIEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD"