by Robert Elmer
Neither of them could stop grinning. Midnight on the border. And look at this! Hundreds of people had climbed to the top edge of the old wall, where they stood arm in arm, as lights and fireworks played over the whole fairy tale scene.
Bam! Everyone clapped and cheered as a red rocket exploded into a thousand sparkles above them. A few of the wall hoppers had brought along sledge hammers and chisels, and they had begun to take swings at the concrete. One held up a chunk as the others cheered and blew an assortment of old trumpets and noisemakers. And for a moment Liesl caught his eye —
Jürgen!
Liesl waved to him from the Volkswagen. Why not? What had he once called her?
Feigling. That’s right. She crossed her arms and stared him down, as if daring him across the crowd to call her a coward again.
Go ahead and try.
But of course he couldn’t. Instead he gave her a thumbs-up and a smile before he turned back to the celebration. And through all the noise Liesl heard the echoes of the American president’s speech.
“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
Maybe the others heard it, too. Thousands of West Berliners had also gathered, cheering and waving, singing and shouting, celebrating as they’d never celebrated before. It looked like Christmas and New Year’s and the soccer championships all rolled into one. The crowds grew and closed in more tightly, barely leaving enough room for the car. And then the VW sputtered, shook — and died.
But no matter. The crowd behind simply pushed it along. Erich shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, I’m a doctor, not a mechanic.”
Liesl giggled and stood on her seat, holding onto the windshield for balance and waving like a grand marshal in a parade. The eyes of dozens of television news cameras waited for them on the other side, but tonight she didn’t mind. Let them take their pictures! She even recognized one of the American news anchors, surrounded by lights, delivering his lines to the cameras.
“Good evening,” the Amerikaner boomed above the celebrations. “Live from the Berlin Wall on what may be the most historic night in this wall’s history. We have a remarkable development here tonight at the Brandenburg Gate . . .”
Remarkable, what a perfect word. Liesl glanced down at the faded phone number barely visible on the palm of her hand. She wished Fred DeWitt could share this with her. But she realized she might never meet him.
After nearly an hour of searching and honking and celebrating, Liesl spied her parents in the crowd. Jumping up and down, she waved her arms to get their attention, amazed that she had found them in the sea of people.
“Over here!” yelled Liesl. “We’re right here!”
As if on cue, the VW allowed her uncle to coax it back to life, gassing the crowd behind them with a puff of thick black smoke. Nobody seemed to mind, though. They just waved their arms and laughed — just one big, fantastic joke. Liesl caught the stunned look on her mother’s face as she recognized the car, and a minute later Liesl jumped out. Working her way through the crowd to her parents, she wrapped her arms around them. Only then did the tears start. Her mother held on as if she’d never let go.
“Thank God you’re safe,” her mother cried, “but Liesl, you have some explaining to do!”
Liesl ducked her head, then smiled through her tears as Oma Brigitte wrapped her in a huge hug.
“I just wanted him to be here,” Liesl told her grandmother. Had it all been for nothing? The report, the search, the prison — Oma Brigitte wiped a tear from Liesl’s cheek.
“Shh, it’s all right.” Oma held her granddaughter at arm’s length, and a little smile played on her face. “I want you to meet a friend.”
The older woman shifted so Liesl could see a shy-looking boy in a blue windbreaker, shivering in the cold November night.
“This is my granddaughter, Liesl,” she announced in English, which could only mean the boy didn’t speak German. “She’s the one I told you about.”
When? Liesl wanted to ask, and Oma must have read her mind.
“He tried to call you this afternoon.” Liesl’s grandmother shook her finger. “But of course you were off getting yourself in trouble, so you wouldn’t know about that.”
“But — ” Liesl started to explain.
“Actually,” her grandmother continued, “I think you two may have something in common. Oh, and Liesl, Nick Wilder has a surprise for you.”
Liesl looked the boy over and gasped at the name.
“You’re the Nick Wilder I talked to on the phone?”
He nodded, and her mother and grandmother looked at each other as if they knew a secret. Never mind that she had just barely escaped from an East German prison, never mind that she’d nearly gotten trampled to death or that she’d probably get grounded for life. Now they had a secret!
“Um, I talked to him a couple of times,” the American boy said, looking at his watch.
“You talked to him?” Liesl’s father interrupted. “You’re the one who’s responsible for trying to bring him here?”
He’d said trying, Liesl realized. Oh, well.
“Well, I’m not really sure.” The boy couldn’t seem to stop checking his watch. “I told him he should, but I wasn’t sure if he actually would. I guess he’s a little late.”
“Late?” They were just playing with her mind, weren’t they? She hated all this mysterious talk — especially when everybody else apparently knew what was going on. “Tell me what you’re talking about!”
Nick grinned and pointed his thumb at the sky. Liesl stared, then made out the lights of a small airplane, getting closer.
“There he is.” As if that explained everything. And as a matter of fact, it did. As the crowd around them continued to celebrate, a small group stood, heads craned back, as the plane came in view.
Liesl’s parents huddled close to each other.
Onkel Erich was still seated in the driver’s seat of his classic VW.
Nick grinned as if he’d just scored the winning goal.
And Oma Brigitte’s tears flowed down her cheeks. Liesl slipped her hand into her grandmother’s and squeezed.
“He’s come back?” asked Liesl. She couldn’t stop shaking. She hardly dared to believe what she saw. And she felt a strange peace. She knew the plane hadn’t come because of something she’d done — she hadn’t wrestled it from the sky, hadn’t arranged it, hadn’t figured it out.
In the end, it had just been handed to her.
Oma nodded just as the plane — a small two-seater — came in low over the crowd, lower and slower than Liesl expected. At any other time, the Air Force might have scrambled to check out the border threat. But not tonight. Tonight the plane belonged. It was just another part of the crazy celebration, like the fireworks and the singing. The people on the wall raised their hands in the air and cheered as the plane dipped a wing.
And Liesl saw his face clearly — though from a distance — as he leaned out the small plane’s window and released a handful of — parachutes.
“His aim is still pretty good,” Erich declared, laughing and waving up at the man, who waved back before the plane disappeared into the night. They watched the American candy bars raining down, landing in the outstretched hands of the crowd. Liesl hopped back in the car and patted her uncle on the shoulder.
“Think we can get through all these people?” she asked him. He looked over at her and raised his eyebrows.
“Right now? Where to?”
But he must have known the answer. The airport, of course.
“You drive,” she told him, “and I’ll navigate.”
“You mean we’ll navigate.” Oma Brigitte slipped into the back seat with Nick in tow. Sabine and Willi squeezed in, too. Liesl smiled as Onkel Erich revved the VW and put it in gear. No, she didn’t have to do it all by herself. And what could she say, but —
“Bombig!”
EPILOGUE
It’s easy to see how this series is rooted in real history and real places. Thoug
h Liesl and her family are pretend characters, you can actually visit many of the settings where they lived in this story, including the General Lucius D. Clay United States Headquarters, the checkpoints, and the streets like Rheinsbergerstrasse and Friedrichstrasse.
The wall itself is largely gone, though in many places you can see where it once stood and visit museums that explain how it worked back before 1989.
Much of the historical timeline and events from 1989 is real in this story, too. You’ve read the actual words of President Reagan’s famous speech, where he says, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” That’s all true. Protests around the wall happened very much as they were described in the story. And the timing of the German people’s push to bring the wall down is accurate.
So the wall came tumbling down, and the people of Berlin danced to see their city united once more.
But was it, really?
Because after all the parties and celebrating had died down, people on both sides of the old East-West line woke up to the sober truth: Bringing a divided city back together again takes a lot of hard work and a lot of sacrifice.
That’s how it works with people, too. In our story Liesl just knew that their family could come back together, and she had the faith and courage to see it through. But it didn’t just happen overnight. It took several months of cautious visits, for instance, for her grandmother Brigitte and Fred to announce that they would be renewing their wedding vows and making their new home in Berlin.
So in stories and in real life, reunions are good — especially the ones that bring real people back together after a long time of being apart. We often find that the reasons that separated us really aren’t good reasons, after all.
Best of all, though, are the reunions that bring you and me back to God — the way we were created to be. That’s why Liesl’s favorite part of the Bible would always be found in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the believers in Ephesus, the section in chapter two that she would read over and over, even as the wall became just a memory and she grew up herself:
Remember . . . you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. (Ephesians 2:12 – 14, TNIV)
QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY
1. Have you ever had to go through a border crossing or security check at an airport? Did it make you nervous, even if you knew you hadn’t done anything wrong? Describe what Liesl must have felt in chapter one, going through the checkpoint to visit the East.
2. In chapter three, why did Liesl have to sneak in New Testaments to her friends in East Berlin? What could have happened if she had been discovered?
3. In chapter five, Liesl had to write a report about the Wall, and she quoted speeches from President John Kennedy, years before. Do you think kids in 1989 knew they were living in historic times? What history are you living in?
4. Google “reconciliation church Berlin” to learn more about the Reconciliation Church you read about in chapter six. Who tore it down, when, and why?
5. In chapter seven, Liesl uses a tape recorder (you know what that is, right?) to interview her grandmother about old stories. What are some ways you can find out more about your own family stories, or stories of older people you know?
6. In chapter eleven, Jürgen says being careful is “quark,” or total nonsense. How would you have answered him, if you were in Liesl’s place? Remember, she’s thirteen and he’s sixteen.
7. In chapter twelve, Liesl’s grandmother underlined the verse in her Bible that said “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Compare Onkel Erich and Liesl. In this story, who is really more free, and why?
8. In chapter fifteen, what’s the difference between the difference Liesl wanted to make, and the difference Jürgen wanted to make? What is a “feigling”?
9. In chapter sixteen, Liesl feels she’s the only one who can track down her grandfather. Have you ever felt like “it’s all up to me”? What do you do about it?
10. Why was Liesl arrested in chapter nineteen, and what did she do when she was? Do you ever find yourself praying like she did — only in emergencies?
11. The scene in chapter twenty-two where people from both sides of the Wall climb on it and begin to tear it down is based on real history. Find a video clip (there are many online) and describe what you see and hear. Pretend you are Liesl. What are you feeling, and what does it look like to you?
12. Explain how Liesl’s long voyage of bringing her family back together was like the real Berlin wall that eventually fell. Can you think of people or places with real (or imaginary) walls that need to come down? Groups of people with barriers between them? What could you do to help bring down those barriers?