Legendary German Bard Reveals What Lukashenka Fears Most

6.10.2021, 10:19
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There has always been a deep bond between rebels and freedom fighters.

On October 5, a ceremony will take place at the German National Library in Frankfurt am Main, during which the legendary German bard and former dissident from the GDR, Wolf Biermann, will be awarded the prestigious Ovid Literary Prize. However, the 84-year-old laureate will accept this award only to immediately transfer it to one of the leaders of the Belarusian opposition - Maryja Kalesnikava, who has been imprisoned since 2020. Biermann announced his intention to do this back in September.

The award on behalf of the opposition politician, recognized by the international human rights organization Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience, is to be received by her lawyer Liudmila Kazak.

DW talked to Wolf Biermann about what motivated him to give the Ovid Prize to Maryja Kalesnikava and how he assesses the situation in Belarus.

- Mr. Biermann, why did you decide to give the award for your creative achievements to Maryja Kalesnikava?

- Maryja Kalesnikava is an inspiring icon of resistance to the dictator in Belarus, and, at the same time, she is defenseless and imprisoned in dungeons at the mercy of Aliaksandr Lukashenka's henchmen.

She faced the same dilemma as her courageous friends: to stay or leave. And she chose the more difficult path. I cannot save her, but I want to support her. Defending her, I also defend all those of us who believe in a free democratic Europe. By the way, the German historian Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk gave me an excellent idea to give this prize to Maryja Kalesnikava.

- Looking at the events taking place in recent years in the world, one may get the impression that there is a revival of totalitarian regimes. What do you think about this - especially in connection with your own biography?

- You are absolutely right. Let's call it the revival of scoundrels all over the world. If the Belarusians did not know that Putin and his army would come to the aid of his friend Lukashenka, the dictator would have been removed from the historical stage long ago.

Under various dictatorial regimes, including in the Eastern Bloc before its collapse, there has always been a deep bond between rebels and freedom fighters. On the one hand, they follow completely different paths, on the other, they are in solidarity with each other. And this is the only way to survive the fight against the dictatorship.

- At the awards ceremony, you will perform your song "Inspiration" - both in German and Belarusian. And what inspires you personally now?

- Real elevation of feelings and heightened readiness for activity - however, you know this without me - mostly they come from deep despair. This is possible only in an existential crisis. And since we are conducting our conversation in Germany, I would like to remind you: we Germans have never lived as well as we do now. The Germans are doing too well - compared to the state in which humanity is, of which we, by the way, are still a part. Peace, freedom, prosperity - some of our contemporaries forget too quickly what they have.

I wish the Belarusian people to free themselves from the brutal dictator Lukashenka. My deepest respect to women. Dictator Lukashenka fears women even more than men. This is something strikingly new in humanity's eternal struggle for freedom.

The poem "Ermutigung" ("Inspiration") in Belarusian:

Support for Peter Huchel

Hey, don't let yourself get violent

In these harsh times.

Too tough to break.

Too sharp to wear off

And to crash.

Hey, don't let yourself be poisoned by bitterness

In these bitter times.

The masters of the country are trembling.

You're behind bars,

But not in front of your suffering.