The Russian attack on Ukraine also shook BAP singer Wolfgang Niedecken badly. His memory goes back 60 years
The Russian attack on Ukraine brought back memories of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 for BAP singer Wolfgang Niedecken (70). At that time, the superpowers USA and Soviet Union were on the verge of an open confrontation with a possible nuclear war.
“I was eleven then and at a boarding school,” said the rock musician (“Verdamp long ago”) of the German Press Agency in Cologne. “And then the big ones were suddenly talking about the Third World War. So I got scared and wrote to my parents.”
Actually, he had to present all his letters to the Catholic boarding school in Rheinbach near Bonn. “But I smuggled this letter past the censors by sticking the uncancelled stamps from my stamp collection on it.” He asked his parents to pick him up immediately because he didn’t want to be alone at the boarding school when the war started.
“Naive of course, but that was just a little boy scared of war who tells his parents: Take me away from here and protect me!” His parents immediately got in the car, drove to him and calmed him down.
Since then there have been many a bad war, for example in former Yugoslavia and Iraq. However, unlike the current Russian attack on Ukraine, these conflicts did not have the potential to escalate into a Europe-wide war, said Niedecken. He was shocked by the unscrupulousness with which Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin spread his lies. “It gives you chills down your spine.” The situation shows once again how important reputable, independent media are, from which one can obtain information.
Dealing with the current situation is extremely difficult, according to the rock singer. On the one hand, it is important to show determination and to impose the toughest sanctions – on the other hand, further escalation must be avoided at all costs. “Now just don’t listen to the agitators,” warned Niedecken. “That would be the worst of all.” He is curious to see how united the front of the EU countries will remain if a stream of refugees from Ukraine should soon get going.
Source: Stern
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