Ode to Joy

In the 1970's, I spent three years in Berlin, behind the Iron Curtain. Berlin was more or less an island, surrounded by a wall, insulated from those who would live free but who lived where they could not. I took this photograph in 1977, mostly because I was perplexed at the difference in dates. I figured Herr Urban was a victim of the wall, but that those who put up the signs didn't really know when he died.



The story is well known in Berlin. Herr Urban lived with his wife on Bernauer Strasse on the line between East and West Berlin. In August of 1961, the East Berlin authorities began construction on a wall and fences to prevent residents of the East from moving across town, or, as in Urban's case, across the street, to the West. Urban and his wife were frightened at the prospect of living in the socialist German Democratic Republic, so on August 19th, they rigged a rope at the window of their second floor apartment and used it to lower themselves to the street and freedom. Both fell, were injured, and were taken to the hospital in West Berlin. Unfortunately, Herr Urban contracted pneumonia and died in the hospital, but he died on September 9, 1961, having lived in freedom less than a month.

There are many, many more stories of those who perished while trying to escape, as well as even more who escaped successfully.   We who live in a free country, cannot possibly imagine what it would take to drive a person to leave his home, escape if you will, because freedom there is no longer a possibility.

In November, 2014, the free city of Berlin celebrated the 25th anniversary of the wall coming down. Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, who, though born in the west, was raised in East Germany presided over the ceremony, and the Berlin Staatskapelle Orchestra played "Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which, until researching for facts just this evening, I did not know is the anthem of the European Union.

Ode to Joy.  A song dedicated to happiness.  The freedom which we take for granted in our country has been such a strong magnet to those who do not have it that they would risk life and limb to get it. 

Ode to Joy.  Amazing.