Living in Russia is not static.

On holidays, the two of them either go to the home of Professor Ivanovich, head of the Department of Mathematics-Mechanics at SDSU, or Professor Yevgeny, head of the Department of Physics, or take a short trip to Moscow or Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which declared independence just last year, on a daily NB Airlines plane.

Last week, I even went to Finland for two days at the invitation of Stockholm University.

can not only do what he likes to do, but also appreciate the exotic customs, Xia Yao sighed secretly: There is a great deal of talk and laughter, and there is no white ding, which may describe his current life.

"Mr. Zhang, Miss Xia, I'm very sorry, the plane takes about half an hour to take off, because the heavy snow is freezing on the plane, and the staff is using steam to melt the ice and snow."

Helena, the purser of the plane, has not dealt with her once or twice, not only serving herself on several trips, but also often helping the group headquarters and European companies to carry things here.

Xia Yao had a very good impression of this beautiful German girl, put down the magazine and said with a smile: "Helena, it's okay, we're not in a hurry." ”

The young boss and the boss's fiancée don't like to be disturbed, and this is a single-aisle Airbus A320, unlike the Boeing 747 wide-body airliner, which is divided into two levels, and the first class and business class can have a relatively quiet boarding environment.

The economy class was packed, the cabin was filled with the smell of vodka and cheap perfumes, and the ventilation system couldn't get rid of it, and it smelled pungent and unpleasant. The noise was so loud that a curtain could not stop it.

Helena was guilty. Pointing to the cabinet in the front row. said apologetically: "Mr. Zhang, Miss Xia." There are earplugs, as well as disposable masks, which can be worn if needed. ”

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the wind of opening up also blew into Russia.

Since last month, two or three television stations have been blatantly talking about St. Petersburg's "striptease bars", "topless service casinos", "topless service restaurants" and "pheasants" appearing on the streets of St. Petersburg every weekend.

Sometimes adult films are played, most of which are "soft" films from European and American countries. For example, the "Playboy" TV film and the so-called show of the beauty of the human body, such as striptease and peeping, which are often broadcast on France Channel 6.

The popular "X stores" in Europe and the United States have also appeared on the streets, selling X magazines, X appliances and X-aiding drugs. It can really be said that the uncontrollable lust of human nature and the unstoppable human nature storm.

The ruble has depreciated sharply, the usage rate has risen one after another, and in order to survive, many St. Petersburg girls choose to "go to the sea". After all, the local X service market is limited, and they gradually turn their attention abroad.

Compared with Finland and Sweden, which are close to the country, selling Y legal Germany is undoubtedly a better choice, and the legal environment is relaxed. They can engage in X services in the open, known as "the paradise of spring buyers" and "the big brothel of Europe".

The "Leipzig-Dresden" 12-day tour launched by the pan-European travel agency. Let them see the business opportunities. As long as you pay a fee of 2,280 marks or 1,660 US dollars, you can get a German visa on behalf of a travel agency, go to Germany for 12 days as a "day job", or simply stay in Germany illegally to make a lot of money.

There are gangster organizations, and there are also individual spontaneous ones.

Reasonable and legal, profitable, and the travel agency certainly won't turn them away. As for the possible illegal stay, there are enough foreigners in Germany who are illegally staying in Germany, and it doesn't matter how many of them there are, and that's something that police and immigration officials should be worried about, and pan-European travel agencies are not obliged to ensure that they will all return on time.

After charging the tour fee, including round-trip airfare, only half or even less than half of the people will return, which is not a bad thing for the travel agency and NB Airlines. As a result, the transportation of Russian prostitutes to Germany gradually became one of the main activities of pan-European travel agencies and NB Airlines in Russia.

This is just the beginning, and it won't be long before they will be out of Europe and into the world.

Chartering glanced behind him through the crack in the curtain and smiled casually: "Helena, it's none of your business, you don't need to be sorry, get busy, we'll take care of ourselves." ”

"Okay, I'm right behind, if you need anything, just call."

The whole "prostitute flight", listening to the debauched laughter behind, Xia Yao was really a little restless. But thinking of this impromptu trip, I couldn't help asking, "Husband, what happened?" ”

"Nothing happened."

The trip was too strange, and the first decision was made in a hurry, and I hadn't even mentioned it before; Secondly, I didn't bring Jan Joseph and Magdalena, although the German society was safe, there would be no danger, and there was no need for bodyguards to follow me every inch. But according to his usual way of doing things, if there is really nothing to do, he will definitely use this opportunity to take a few days off and let the two bodyguards who have been in St. Petersburg for Christmas go home to see.

Xia Yao was anxious, grabbed his hand tightly and said, "Husband, there must be something in your heart, I can see it, don't hide it from me." ”

There is indeed something, and it is a matter of direct importance to the life and death of the NB laboratory in Berlin, the "Klinsmann's Friends Association" and the "NB Engineers Association"!

The charter pondered for a moment, then turned sideways and asked, "Wife, have you ever seen George Orwell's 1984?" ”

Almost all the college students of their generation have seen it, Xia Yao nodded.

"I remember a sentence in the book: 'Under the shade of the chestnut tree, I betrayed you, you betrayed me'."

He sighed and continued: "In George Orwell's book it was a story, but in East Germany it was a fact, a history. As for me, I am not only a witness to history, but even a participant. You haven't experienced it, and it's hard to imagine what kind of atmosphere it was like. ”

He had never been so nervous as he was now, Xia Yao was taken aback, and hurriedly asked, "What, someone betrayed you?" ”

This is not a question that can be explained in a sentence or two, and the charter takes a deep breath and says solemnly: "A month after the fall of the Berlin Wall, black smoke rose from the roof of a government office building in the city of Erfurt in East Germany. That building belongs to the 'Stasi', and you've probably heard of the 'Stasi'. East German secret police. Officially known as 'Ministry of State Security of the German Democratic Republic'. They claim to be 'omnipresent', but in fact they are indeed 'omnipresent'.

Since its founding in 1950, this notorious body has been a powerful weapon for the SAS to suppress speech and maintain power at home. However, when the East German regime began to crumble, the huge institution gradually felt that they were becoming scapegoats for popular outrage, and hastily decided to destroy the secret archives of the headquarters and local bureaus. ”

He spent two years at the former East German Academy of Sciences, witnessed the collapse of East German socialism and the reunification of Germany, and even collected a warehouse of the Berlin Wall.

Now let's talk about "Stasi". Xia Yao realized that it was not a trivial matter, and immediately reminded: "Say it in Mandarin." ”

"Hmm."

The charter nodded slightly, and continued: "However, the light of the fire in Erfurt caught the attention of a female doctor who was passing by. She immediately realized what this strange situation meant, and in order not to destroy the SED's record of 40 years of oppression of the people overnight, with courage and a sense of justice, she rushed into the building with her bare hands with the citizens and forcibly took over the secret archives that were being destroyed.

Immediately afterwards, the rescue of the 'Stasi' archives spread to the capital of Berlin and all over the country, when the day of 15/01/90. When thousands of people stormed the 'Stasi' headquarters, they saw mountains of shredded paper – massive archives that had not had time to be incinerated or put into shredders by human hand. It filled more than 16,000 bags of marijuana.

So much so that all the shredders in the building were overloaded and all of them broke down. In addition, there are still more than 39 million file cards and documents lined up for 180 kilometers that have not had time to be destroyed and have been received by the citizens in their entirety. ”

Xia Yao was confused, and asked puzzledly: "What does this have to do with you?" ”

"Of course it does."

"In the past few decades, the East German government has encouraged people to kill their relatives in a righteous manner, 'making small reports' to their relatives, friends, and acquaintances, and openly recruiting 'informers';

Wives spy on their husbands, students spy on professors, children spy on their parents, and lovers spy on each other...... In that atmosphere, everyone is at risk, and many people even think that as long as they voluntarily whistle and act as the government's eyeline, they can at least ensure their own safety. Knowing that there are informants behind the informants, and there are stalkers behind the stalkers, all of them live in an unknowable fear, and everyone can become black material in the dossier.

In short, the culture of whistleblowing is contagious like a toxin, and people poison each other. That's why I just said that you haven't experienced it, and you can't imagine what kind of apocalyptic scene it is like when morality collapses, everyone is mired in self-preservation, and you can see the struggle of human nature and the game of self-depravity everywhere.

The archives of the 'Stasi' record the detailed process of thousands of 'informants' being recruited, paid, tracked, eavesdropped, and reported. Once the surviving documents were made public, they would have had a huge impact on East German society. This will lead to the breakdown of some family marriages, and many friendships will come to an end overnight! ”

Xia Yao reacted suddenly and exclaimed, "Berlin NB laboratory? ”

"Not only the Berlin NB Laboratory, but also the Doctor's Friends Association, the NB Engineers Association, NB Industrial Manufacturing, NB Instruments, NB Motors and the Berlin Waste Incineration Plant, all the companies, factories and research institutes that we have invested in or financed in East Germany."

After a pause, he continued worriedly, "How to face 'betrayal', the ugliest side of human nature, everyone, including me and the doctor, is not mentally prepared. And Germany's Federal Security Archives Commission will accept applications next month to give people access to their files. ”

The "Stasi" once included 6 million of the 18 million people in East Germany, a third of the total population, into secret surveillance! Once those secret archives are made available to people, the painful truth will undoubtedly become an unbearable burden for human nature.

The former East German Academy of Sciences is undoubtedly the focus of "Stasi" surveillance, and informants and whistleblowers are certainly indispensable, once the archives are made public. Leads to the end of friendship. "Klinsmann's friends" are bound to fall apart.

Overnight. Scientists and researchers who are at odds with each other are unlikely to work together as they do now. This is true of the "NB Engineers Association", as well as companies invested in East Germany, such as NB Industrial Manufacturing and NB Instrumentation.

Xia Yao realized the seriousness of the problem and couldn't help but gasp.

"The day before yesterday that phone call was made by Angela herself, and since she entered politics, we have had very little contact, nothing particularly important, I will not contact her, and she will not contact me. You can see how important this matter is. ”

"And what are you going to do?"

"I don't know what to do."

The charter shook his head and said in frustration: "Actually, I should have thought of such a day, but I didn't think of such an important thing, so that it caused this passive situation. ”

Xia Yao was completely stunned, and was stunned for a while before muttering to himself: "Germany is really, it is not easy to reunify and expose its own scars, won't this intensify social contradictions?" ”

Although the German Federal Security Archives Commission's imminent move to provide access to applicants seriously jeopardizes NB Electric's investment in East Germany, the charter does not feel that there is anything wrong with this, let alone that it is exacerbating social tensions.

After thinking about it. "Before the upheaval in Eastern Europe, the archives of the Romanian Police, the Ministry of the Interior and the Intelligence Service. Plainclothes at the behest of the highest authorities were burned. This would not only leave the history of past evils undocumented, but also create a pretext for the repression by the students who took to the streets. Mass destruction of archives also occurred in a number of other Eastern European countries, but the East German population had a conscious awareness of the preservation of archives from the very beginning of the upheaval.

At the same time, there were great differences in these Eastern European countries on how to deal with the secret police and whistleblowing of that era. Some countries, considering that the scope of the activities of the secret police involves a wide range of people, and fearing that the publication of the archives will lead to social fluctuations and reshuffling of interpersonal relationships, so they destroy and seal the archives in an attempt to settle the blame for the past.

However, there are also some States that advocate the liquidation of such acts. In Poland, for example, the first thing a new president does when he takes office is to order a review of the secret police and whistleblowers. Vowed to purge the remnants of the previous system, demanded that civil servants, university teachers, and media personnel publicly declare whether they had cooperated with the secret police, and prompted parliament to pass the Clearance Law, which reportedly involved more than 700,000 people, causing a huge shock in Poland and throughout Eastern Europe. ”

"Germany is also coming soon."

"yes, so I have to go to Berlin and see if I can do something."

The lights in the cabin went out, and the plane began to take off.

In the darkness, Xia Yao couldn't help but think of Jan Joseph and Magdalena, who were like sisters, who had belonged to the "Stasi", and secretly thought that it was right not to take them back to Berlin. If they did, they would be very embarrassed.

After the plane was flattened, she asked in a mysterious way: "Husband, were you being watched when you were in East Germany?" ”

The charter sighed secretly and said lightly, "Angela said that I can also submit an application. ”

There is no doubt that he is also one of the people being watched, and it is likely that the people who spy on him are the friends of the NB Lab in Berlin. Xia Yao could understand his feelings at this moment, was silent for a while, and asked cautiously, "Then will you check it out?" ”

"No, it won't."

His attitude made Xia Yao's eyes light up, and he said excitedly: "Husband, you don't want to lose your friends, others don't want to either, if everyone doesn't submit an application and doesn't check it, then won't all the problems be solved?" ”

"Wife, I know what you mean, but whether you check the file or not is not as simple as worrying about whether you will lose your friends. Why is a democracy willing to put so much effort into digging up its dark history after the demise of the former authoritarian regime? Moreover, it was mostly East Germans who protected archives and demanded that they be made public, because for them only a better understanding of autocracy could build democracy. ”

After taking a sip of juice, he continued: "There are also people who want to know how the 'Stasi' has controlled or disrupted their lives, what happened to them, and what difficulties they encountered, such as during their studies and work.

In addition, thousands of people need documents to rehabilitate themselves. For example, people who have been in prison need to prove that they were imprisoned for political reasons. For example, some people who have been treated unfairly need to have a file to prove that they have nothing to do with the 'Stasi', which is important for their employment and retirement benefits. ”

The Germans dare to face and reflect, but what about China? Thinking of natural disasters, thinking of WG, and thinking of the troubles of college students he experienced, Xia Yao felt very uncomfortable.

The trip to Germany was a "red-eye flight", and it was already 1 a.m. when the plane landed on the runway of Leipzig International Airport.

Passengers who want to get to big cities such as Berlin, Leipzig or Dresden before dawn can take luxury buses operated by NB Airlines' family members; If you need to take a break, you can take the shuttle bus to the "Holiday Inn Leipzig" in the infield.

The time was too tight, the matter was too important, and the charter did not dare to delay for a moment, and after greeting Xie Jingwen who picked up the airport for a while, she didn't even bother to say hello to the executives of NB Airlines and Leipzig Airport, so she took a bus and rushed to Berlin non-stop.

Before the departure, Daniel, president of BNB News, François, president of the European company, Dr. Klinsmann, director of the NB laboratory in Berlin, and Steyr, president of NB Industrial Manufacturing, have been waiting at the headquarters on Karl Marx Strasse.

As the group grew more and more in Europe, office space became more and more tight, and the third and fourth floors were converted into offices, and the Daniels and Zhang Lin moved to a residential area not far from the Berlin TV Tower.

"Eat first, then finish breakfast."

The huge crisis made Dr. Klinsmann age a lot all of a sudden, nodded slightly at Xia Yao behind him, and agreed: "Okay, there is a restaurant opposite, it should be open now." ”

Daniel put down the luggage he had just carried for the two of them, and pretended to smile easily: "That one tastes good, Zhang, Xia, wait a minute, I'll go drive." ”

While holding the hand of President Steyr, the charter turned back and said, "It's not far, let's walk." ”

Daniel shoved the keys into his pocket and smiled, "Good idea for an early morning walk." ”

After all, Berlin is a city that has experienced two authoritarian regimes, the Nazis and the East Germany, and if you pay a little attention, you can still see many traces.

The restaurant is on the east side of the Berlin Wall, and the wall has long been torn down, and you have to go to your fiancé's warehouse or take the subway to see it, but through the familiar Soviet-style gray cement buildings around, it is certain that this is the former East Berlin. People who grew up in Chinese cities have lived in such buildings, five or six stories high, with two or three households on each floor, which are practical, but not beautiful.

Across the street from the restaurant is the pre-World War II ghetto, and in the morning you can see the synagogue across the street, where several police officers are patrolling the outside of the church. Xia Yao came to Berlin for the first time, and it was also the first time he saw a synagogue, and he was very curious about everything around him, and he couldn't help but slow down.

Daniel took the lead and went back in English: "The police patrolled day and night, not really anti-Semitic, but to show the Jews their determination to welcome them back and settle down." ”

"Thank you." Xia Yao realized that he was out of shape, and hurriedly followed, (to be continued......)