Chess

Stasi prison August 24, 1985

Another weekend.

More pain in my lower right arm.

More black tea and black tobacco cigarettes.

Matthias and I bought a large pack of Darjeeling.

We’re running low on cash so we also bought a stash of shag for rollies.

Our purchase decisions make sense and I like having a partner to share stuff with.

Thursday was a dark day for us.

Nobody was called out of the cell for transport.

We were the only ‘dry’ cell this week on the entire floor.

We daydream a lot on those days.

“What will you do first when you are in the West?”

“Find a job of course and then travel on every weekend.”

“Buy a ticket for Schalke.”

“Open air festivals.”

“Paris!”

Of course we have no idea.

Of course we know that this will be a tough new life.

But dreaming helps to cope with the frustration that nobody was called out.

I master my chess game now.

Unbeaten in the last 20 matches.

It’s great for networking and to stay sharp.

I repeat the 1984 world cup Kasparow v Karpow matches.

It’s the only section that is probably not fabricated in the papers.

There is a true chess champion one story below us they say: unbeaten in a year.

*Testimony -> Start. This blog entry is part of a linear narrated testimony of the contemporary witness Jens Thieme who was imprisoned 1985-1986 as a political prisoner in various GDR prisons by the GDR Ministry of State Security. Stasi prison, Stasi jail, Stasi detention.