Schwarzesmarken

+++December 20th, 1982 - January 10th, 1983

When I was a child, the world around me sparkled with beauty. I was happy being with people close to me... But now, everything changed. The world has become full of death and destruction, its people cast into the abyss of despair. But I, I did not lose faith.

This world will shine once again, for we shall never yield. I will prove that. For that, I am ready to lay down my life.

+++December 20th, 1982, 0700 hours

Katja Waldheim slowly opened her eyes, awakened by the rattling of the undercarriage of the coach. Lights were off in the entire train, and everything was enveloped in darkness. Her breath was white, and she shivered, fighting off the drowsiness that overcame her body. She tried to breathe life into her hands, numb from the cold, and only then noticed that one of her comrades was sleeping soundly on her shoulder.

Aah, that's why my shoulders are so stiff...

Every nook and cranny of the coach, from the overhead bins to the compartments under and between the seats, was stuffed with duffel bags, bed rolls and other various equipment and personal belongings, while the seats themselves were occupied by young men and women in standard Bundeswehr field uniform, huddled together and sleeping peacefully. The four hundred kilometre trip from their base in Paderborn towards the front lines in the east took its toll on the young soldiers.

You'd think this was a refugee train... ah, but I can't say that out loud, can I, some people might get mad...

Katja shook off those imprudent thoughts and, looking around, noticed a tiny light coming from a chink between the metal sheets that had been used to cover all windows.

Sun's up?.. finally...

Carefully tiptoeing around her sleeping neighbours and their things, she slowly made her way towards the door, when--

"Uh! Bloody commie... Imma flush yer books down the toilet, " - grumbled one of her comrades, clearly unhappy at being woken up.

Katja chose to ignore the threat, however real it may have been, and finally made it to the exit. She knew that only those doors were closed not with sheets of metal, but simple curtains. Rules ordinarily forbade soldiers to look outside, but at this hour there would be no sentries around. The faint, flickering light from the window drew her like a moth to the flame, and her chest seized suddenly, making it painful to breathe... She looked around once again, making sure no one was headed her way, gently pushed aside the curtain... and let out a deep sigh.

On the other side of the window was an endless sea of white, scattered little groups of houses and trees, - and above them, a gloomy eastern sky, barely touched by the first rays of daybreak. A serene, if not uncommon, sight.

I don't know why... everything seems so... familiar, even... dear to me....

A snow-covered field flew past, followed by a narrow railway platform with old posters of the SED[1A 1] on the walls of the somewhat decrepit station building - indeed, the train had crossed the border during the night, and was now deep in East Germany.

Finally... I'm here.

Katja took a photo out of an inside pocket of her field jacket, smiled faintly, murmuring:

"Now we'll meet again for sure..."

Her voice broke and turned into a whisper.

The land before Katja's eyes was the land of war, every square metre of it drenched in the blood of the countless fallen. Through leaden clouds, pregnant with snow, here and there shone rays of light, like translucent ladders by which angels furtively left this sombre domain. The land of war was under the spell of the cold, itself a consequence of the war with the BETA, and snowfall was now frequent in spring months. After the disastrous failure of Operation Palaiologos in 1978 and the ensuing fall of Poland the following year, Germany had become the front line of defence for the whole of Europe, a battlefield on which the endless war of attrition went on...