Roses by the Rhine River

Chapter 10 of "Roses by the Rhine": Twin Cities Vines

May 23, 1949, West German National Day. Initiation Ceremony in the Morning Mist.

Otto's Communist Youth League badge is rusting in the morning dew of the Rose Manor. The fingers of the fifteen-year-old boy repeatedly rub the back of the badge - there is engraved the prisoner-of-war camp number of Karl. Isabella hands over grape shears made from Soviet tank parts. The handle is wrapped with a red scarf knitted by East German mothers: "From today on, you are the chief grafter of the Rose Manor."

The boy suddenly hugs her. The grape leaf embroidery on his school uniform brushes against the pearl necklace around her neck. "They say I am a traitor..." His Russian is mixed with the Rhine estuary accent, exactly the tone Karl taught in Stalingrad. "But the East German agriculture minister said that my application for joining the Communist Youth League was torn by the thorn of the 'peace rose'."

Karl's mechanical prosthetic limb suddenly sprays champagne - the last bottle used for the wedding in 1939. The wine liquid drenches on Otto's newly engraved draft of the West German national emblem. "Do you know why I chose today?" His broken finger taps on the Berlin Wall rubble on the prosthetic limb. "On this day in 1945, I wove a fake medal with grapevines in the prisoner-of-war camp."

11:07. The Sound of Piano at the Potsdam Conference.

Lia's Soviet spring harp trembles under the dome of Sanssouci Palace. The skirt of the thirteen-year-old girl is embroidered with sunflowers from the East German orphanage. When Chancellor Adenauer and Stalin's interpreter step into the hall, she suddenly plays the East German folk version of "Wild Roses" - exactly the tune Otto's mother sang on the other side of the barbed wire.

"Miss Hoffman's piano sound can penetrate the Berlin Wall." Stalin's pipe flickers in the smoke. The interpreter's military tag shakes out Karl's prisoner-of-war camp number. "I heard that you cured my daughter's tuberculosis with ice wine?"

Isabella opens the oak box. Inside lies an empty ice wine bottle from 1948. The graffiti tank on the label is crossing the Berlin Wall. "This is brewed with chocolate during the blockade," she hands the bottle to Adenauer. "There is the laughter of East German children in every drop of wine."

The chancellor's finger suddenly trembles - engraved at the bottom of the bottle is the name of his missing niece for many years. Lia's harp string suddenly snaps. In the aftersound of the Soviet spring, Stalin suddenly chuckles: "Mrs. Hoffman, your roses are more patient than my tanks."

16:42. The Postman Under the East German Weed Decree.

Otto's grape shears hover in front of the bayonet of the East German border guards. The boy's Communist Youth League badge is replaced by a West German national emblem pin. "According to Resolution No. 74 of the People's Parliament," the officer's gun muzzle points at the "peace rose." "This flower is an imperialist weed."

Lia suddenly lifts the insulated box. Inside are neatly stacked graffiti popsicles of East German children - made with milk powder from the Berlin Airlift. Each is wrapped with grapevines. "Uncle, have a taste," her bamboo flute plays "Katyusha." "This is frozen with the grapevines on your border guards' gun barrels."

The officer's finger suddenly loosens. In his steel helmet lies a letter from Otto's mother: "On May 7, 1945, Mr. Hoffman saved your father's life with ice wine." When the first star appears, the border guards silently help transplant the "weed" to the guard post - where the grape seeds Otto buried last year have already sprouted.

On the return journey on the Rhine River, Lia's bamboo flute brings the Morse code of the East German boy: "We planted the 'peace rose' under the Berlin Wall. When the flowers bloom, we will dig a tunnel."

23:59. First Kiss at the Junction of the Two Cities.

Otto's grape shears carve out the last ring. The rose thorn on the draft of the West German national emblem suddenly hooks the grain spike of the East German national emblem. Lia's Soviet spring harp sounds on the eastern section of the Berlin Wall. In the sound of the piano, children from both Germany reach out their hands from the cracks in the wall - West German chocolate and East German rye bread are buried together in the root of the "peace rose."