Locked Away in '84

Caution! Do not read on. This is a spoiler for the third book of the trilogy “The Bright Side of the Doom”. It’s called “Deep in the West”, the sequel to “The 18-Year-Old Who Wrote a Note and Disappeared”, which ends on Wednesday, August 15, 1984.1984. Apple introduces the Macintosh, the Olympic Games are held in Sarajevo and Los Angeles, Richard Weizsäcker becomes German president, France wins the European Soccer Championship, seat belts become mandatory, and Tetris takes the world by storm.Of course, I know nothing about this on Saturday, February 11, 1984, because I've been in jail for 36 days.No newspapers. No television. No radio. Two letters. A book. And a visit from the prosecutor – that's all the information I have from the outside world.What I also don't know at that time, 40 years ago, is that less than two years later, I will be sitting at an Apple Macintosh at the Bénédict Language and Business School in Wuppertal, writing my first computer programs.But until then, a lot of poison will flow from the Saale into the Elbe.There are still 30 days to go until my trial on March 12. Another eight until the verdict becomes final on March 20.Plus 51 days before I am transported as a prisoner to Magdeburg and from there to Halle on the banks of the river Saale.I will have to endure 81 days and nights in the Halle youth detention center, known in prison slang as “Frohe Zukunft” (Happy Future).There, my pretrial detention in Greifswald will remind me of a closed youth hostel for adults with slightly stricter rules—that's how drastically the situation has changed.Shortly before things really get dicey, I am transported to Chemnitz, where I am treated with kid gloves by the Stasi for 14 days.On August 15, I see lawyer Vogel for the first and only time at close range. Then the miracle happens. Get full access to How To Diaries at tjannot.substack.com/subscribe