21 March 2017 – IN LIGHT OF CURRENT EVENTS – The Lubitz Family´s Press Conference

I hope I will not confuse my readers too much when I leave the chronology of my blog A Tear In My Soul to turn to a topic that´s currently in the news.  I simply have to say something.
The Lubitz family has called a press conference in Berlin. They want to present a report which they say will absolve their son. That´s reasonable. I can understand that parents protect and defend their children, even beyond a certain degree. And if the child is dead you want to cherish him. I´m a mother myself. But there are limits.
The Lubitz family have been provoking us for a long time. It started with a public acknowledgement which was published in a regional newspaper on 4 April 2016. They chose to use sentences which offended and frightened me. The 149 victims were not mentioned. We felt this was a provocation.
On 15 August 2016 reports about Andreas Lubitz´s gravestone appeared in the media. When I saw it for the first time, I cried. No one is stopping the Lubitz family from mourning. They also lost their son. And no one can tell anyone which gravestone they should choose. But why is a mountain range pictured? And next to it a body of water which I immediately associate with the brook that flows next to the crash site? I am upset and deeply hurt. The monumental gravestone is also jarring. If I were the mother of a son like that I would ask: How could it have come to this? What did I do wrong? I would feel guilty and show humility and not hurt the families with such a gravestone. Yesterday´s invitation to the press conference is an unprecedented provocation for the families. We are sad and our feelings are all over the place as the second anniversary approaches. We had to find out about it under these circumstances. I couldn´t believe my eyes yesterday when I read the date. It´s taking place on 24 March, the day our loved ones died. It´s planned for 10.30 a.m. The pilot who left the cockpit in order to use the toilet was unable to re-enter because the door was locked.  He tried desperately for 10 minutes to open it. These are the minutes in which the co-pilot deliberately initiated mass murder (he practiced the fatal descent on the flight to Barcelona, which is proven). At 10.41 a.m. the plane crashed in the Alps of southern France.
What compels the Lubitz family to play sick games with us? After careful consideration I have come to the conclusion that they deliberately want to provoke us. They ignore our dead loved ones and they ignore our feelings. They have never said a word about the victims or a word of regret to us. They ignore the investigation authorities´ convincing evidence and the voice recordings, and are in denial about their son´s guilt. They say that he has been misrepresented. They knew about his condition and that he was on anti-depressants. His mother and girlfriend wrote letters to his doctors. They, too, could have prevented their seriously depressed son, who also suffered from a severe visual impairment, from flying.
I can´t forbid them from doubting the sequence of events, but another date for the press conference would have been more appropriate. Well, I just had to get that off my chest. The next time the Lubitz family tries to provoke us I am determined not to tremble or cry again.
At the moment I need a sense of calm but have yet to find it.

Jens is dead.

© Brigitte Voß / Translation: Ellen Rosenbaum