Our second concert at the Prison Church of Plötzensee

At the 20th of November, we were singing at the prison "Plötzensee" for the second time this year. The occasion for this concert was the inauguration of the prison church, which had been renovated and was now shining anew in beautiful colours.

It is a small jewel in this prison, a place for joy and reflection. Several inmates, among them an architect, have contributed to the chapel's design.

The chapel's ceiling imitates the endless sky in colours of blue and violet, on the wall behind the altar hangs a picture of Jesus and Nicodemus in dialogue. The ecumenical service was very moving. It was "Totensonntag" (Sunday in Commemoration of the Dead), and every mass-visitor could come to the altar and light a candle in remembrance of the deceased. Many many candles burned in a "tree of lights" made of brass, which had been construed and built by an inmate.

As an introduction to the service and for its conclusion we gave our little concert. We covered our whole range of songs, from quiet arrangements like "Scarborough Fair" and "The Water is Wide" to drinking songs like "Whiskey in the Jar". The atmosphere was good and the audience contributed to our songs by clapping and singing-along. Kathrin's solo in the song "Cliffs of Dooneen" elated everybody, and the inmates' joy was surely increased by the fact that we have so many nice women in our choir!

The following tea-time with the inmates was an encounter between the people inside and outside, an encounter between the supposed "normality" and those excluded from it, between freedom and imprisonment. At the mutual encounter, these borders blurred, they were surpassed.

Just like the first time this concert in prison was, again, a very emotional and moving experience.