The Song

I suppose I should have mentioned that the song was my own, but I figured that it would be obvious. I composed it over 20 years after the fact, but it's not on my tape, and I don't think I've ever written it down until now. I can't sing it for you because I don't have a microphone. I would have to do it acapulco because I haven't played my guitar in at least ten years and would likely have to learn how all over again. Funny how time slips away, somebody should write a song about that.

I think the reason Spandau was chosen for the NAZI war criminals was that the war crimes people expected to have more prisoners than they ended up with. As it turned out, they only put seven men in there and, by the time I arrived on the scene, it was down to three. Rudolf Hess was in for life, and the other two were nearing the end of their 20 year sentences. The third guy was named Von Shirak, or something like that, and I don't know anything about him.

The reason that "the rules could not be changed" was that Spandau operated under a treaty that had been made shortly after the war between the US, the UK, France, and Russia. All four parties had to agree before anything could be changed, and the Russians vetoed anything that was proposed by any of the other three parties. That's why the three prisoners were never moved to a smaller facility. Even after Speer and Von Shirak were released, the whole complex was maintained just for Hess until he died. Shortly after that, Spandau was demolished to prevent it from becoming a rallying point for either pro or anti NAZI activists. Too bad, it looked like a haunted castle and would have made a nifty museum.

I only saw Speer that one time, and I never saw the other two. I didn't think he looked like a NAZI, I thought he just looked like somebody's grandpa. We weren't supposed to communicate with the prisoners but, when we both watched that "727 climbing sharply through the sky", we exchanged silent smiles. The 727 was designed to use shorter runways than the other commercial jets, and they had only recently started landing at Templehoff. I knew that a plane just like that was going to carry me out of Berlin in a few months, and I think that Speer did too.

In truth, he wasn't released "shortly after me", but about a month before me. I may have been confused about that because I first read about his release in a newspaper article shortly after I got out. According to that article, Speer's girlfriend met him at the prison gate with a bouquet of flowers and they boarded a 727 for an undisclosed destination. She had faithfully waited 20 years for his release, renting a house right across the street from the prison.

I have lost interest in the bitcoin, it sounds too technical for my blood.