Martin Roemers

Willi Finck (b. 1923 in Germany) was blinded during the Second World War (WWII). 'When I was a fighter pilot, I shot down about twenty-five aircraft. I fired on the fuel tanks of the Allied bombers that were on their way to Hamburg or Berlin. Then I would watch the crewmen who managed to get out of their planes slowly drift to the ground on their parachutes. We flew in a group of twelve Messerschmitts. Four or five comrades were killed during our missions. At the end, we no longer believed in the war. But yes, orders were orders and we just took off again. We were always afraid before we left but once we were up in the air, all that fear evaporated. On 30 April 1945, I was shot down by three English Spitfires. I jumped from my stricken plane with splinter wounds in my eyes, hands and legs. As I descended, I could see burning buildings and American army vehicles. I was captured as soon I landed. The GIs took everything from me including my watch. My hands and legs were immediately operated on at an American field hospital. They didn't have an ophthalmologist. A year later, I was blind. After the war, I studied at the Humboldt University in Berlin. I then worked as a Marxist philosopher at the University of Rostock in East Germany, and I'm still a Marxist to this day.'