WEBVTT

00:03.626 --> 00:07.484
In my childhood, every night
when I heard the siren wailing,

00:08.120 --> 00:12.916
I would automatically roll down from the bed,
firstly under the bed

00:14.720 --> 00:19.178
and if the siren went again three times,
that meant that it was getting dangerous,

00:20.255 --> 00:25.383
and we needed to run into the bunker.
If it only sounded once,

00:26.685 --> 00:29.116
then afterward we could get back into bed
and go back to sleep.

00:29.495 --> 00:31.042
That was our everyday life.

00:31.957 --> 00:36.567
In 1978, when war broke out
with China and Cambodia,

00:37.439 --> 00:42.309
it meant that all young South Vietnamese
men first had to join the army.

00:42.895 --> 00:47.809
I also had school friends who
came from the North;

00:48.134 --> 00:50.001
they were allowed to keep studying.

00:50.817 --> 00:56.118
It was only we from the South who
had to go and be cannon fodder first.

00:57.004 --> 01:03.695
My mother did everything in her power
to prevent me from having to enlist.

01:04.302 --> 01:10.208
Then she bribed someone into
letting me go to the GDR.

01:10.900 --> 01:14.673
When I went to the GDR,
my mother said:

01:15.084 --> 01:17.684
I hope that you learn something there

01:18.705 --> 01:26.122
and if you come back home with
what you’ve learned, then I’ll be happy.

01:26.599 --> 01:28.799
Then I’ll be able to sleep easy.