Munich – Tomorrow Germany will celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall 32 years ago. Now it came out: A Munich resident had apparently fueled the upheaval mood in the GDR with a song.
At least René Vollmar (64) is firmly convinced of it. For the religion teacher, music is a tool to reach people. He recorded songs with refugees and is currently working on a music project with the disabled (“Rolli Gang”).
“Even as a teenager, I was deeply touched by the fate of the people in the GDR,” he says.
Even as a child he was appalled by the surveillance of citizens in the GDR.
People stormed the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989
As a teenager he sometimes listened to the “Voice of the GDR” station. Vollmar: “It could only be heard in Munich in the evenings, the frequencies were overloaded during the day”. Suddenly the moderator said: “And now we also welcome a listener from Munich”. Vollmar turned off the radio in a panic. He thought he was meant.
As a junior teacher, he composed his “Lied für Berlin” with a flat share partner in Obergiesing, in which he asked the Berliners to dismantle the wall, “stone by stone; we do it together ”.
Veronika Faber from the Münchner Lach- und Schießgesellschaft sang the song on the church organ.
In August 1989, Vollmar smuggled the song in a car from the ride-sharing service to Berlin and handed it over to a radio station. The song ran on October 7, 1989, the 40th anniversary of the GDR.
The Wall fell on November 9th. Vollmar: “I certainly helped to ensure that more people were on the streets. I was part of a historical process. ”