“We don’t want our homes to burn down.”

Hamburg, November 1960. The Cold War turned the German city into a geopolitical chessboard in its interior – specifically in the red light district of St. Pauli – Among the brothels, nightclubs and cheap beer, a musical revolution began to take shape.. There, five young men from Liverpool sweat it out every night on dirty stages, playing for up to six hours straight in front of drunken sailors, local thugs, and courtesans.

There are still three years left to go “Please, please.” Turned the world upside down. Ringo Starr had not yet arrived and George Harrison, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were still missing from being the Beatles we know.. That natural force that would unleash Beatlemania and lead the British Invasion. They were just “hungry kids” learning their trade the hard way, and they were about to star in one of the most surreal episodes in rock ‘n’ roll history.

The night of November 29, 1960, began in pitch darkness and ended with police sirens. Paul McCartney and Pete Best – the original drummer so cruelly forgotten by history – were packing their bags at Bambi Kino, the cinema where they were staying.. It wasn’t exactly the Ritz: a windowless, unheated room next to the bathrooms, where the smell of filth was my daily alarm.

“We lived backstage at Bambi Kino, next to the bathrooms, and you could always smell it.”McCartney would be remembered years later. Two bunk beds with British flags as blankets, unpainted concrete walls, and the perpetual cold. Real “paradise”.

But on that dark night, as they were trying to see through the darkness to gather their things, Necessity has honed ingenuity disastrously.

The band was already on the ropes. A few days ago, on November 21st. George Harrison was deported. Guitarist Crime: 17 years old. German authorities discovered he was underage and sent him back to England to play after the 10:00 pm curfew. Bruno Koschmeder, owner of the Kaiserkeller Hotel, denounced Harrison for operating illegally. In a calculated retaliatory move.

Cause of dissatisfaction? The Beatles had broken their contract with Koschmider to go to the Top Ten Cluba competing institution offering better wages and less hellish conditions. The Tsar Keller was not one to forgive betrayal.

So when? McCartney and Best returned to Bambi Kino to gather their things – Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe had already moved out – and found themselves in complete darkness. Without electric light to guide them, they needed to light the way. Then genius happened: They found an unused condom among his luggage, pinned it to the concrete wall and set it on fire.

For any young man, he was a genius: An instant light, a final joke on the hated owner, and perhaps a final joke “Damn you” Before leaving. The fire briefly lit the room. The condom caught fire, left a burn mark on the wall and extinguished itself on the wet concrete. Actual damage: almost zero. The damage is imagined by a very angry German businessman. The result? Horrific.

“He told the police that we tried to burn down his house and they said, ‘Please leave. Thank you very much, but we don’t want you to burn down our German homes.'”Paul will remember. The irony did not escape him: The building was made of stone. It would have taken gallons of gasoline to actually set it on fire.

The police arrived quickly. McCartney and Best were arrested for “attempted arson” and taken to Davidoatche Police Station in St Pauli.. They spent three hours in detention before being temporarily released.

Exhausted and confused – Their German was terrible – The Beatles returned to their new residence above the Top Ten Club and collapsed into bed.. Relief lasted only a few hours. In the early afternoon, they were awakened by an angry knock at the door. Two plainclothes police officers ordered them to dress immediately. They were transported by car to the crime scene in Hamburg, where the responsible officer, Herr Jerkins informed them of their fate: deportation in the middle of the night on a plane to London.

“We were thinking: Oh my God, these could be concentration camps.” You never know.”McCartney remembers those moments of panic. The memory of World War II and its horrors were still fresh in our minds. Barely 15 years after its completion, it is still haunted by ghosts.

They were given five minutes to pack their bags. Pete Best had to give up his drums. They were prevented from contacting the British consul. No trial, no defense, no appeal. They were detained in prison before being transferred to the airport in the afternoon.. On 1 December 1960, McCartney and Best landed at London Airport, where they spent their last ticket on a bus to Euston station and a train to Liverpool.

The first residence in Hamburg ended in Absolute disaster.

John Lennon stayed briefly in Hamburg, but his work permit was revoked days later. He returned to Liverpool by train, alone and penniless. Stuart Sutcliffe, a guitarist who dreamed of painting more than playing rock ‘n’ roll, chose to stay. He had met Astrid Kirchherr, the German photographer who later became his fiancée, and enrolled at the Hamburg School of Art. Tragically, he died there of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1962, at the age of 21.

By December 1960, all the Beatles had returned to Liverpool: Depressed, penniless, fugitives from German justice. For weeks no one called anyone. The dream seemed dead.

“It was a devastating experience to be in a foreign country, at such a young age, abandoned there and completely alone.” John Lennon would later be remembered. “We spent our money as we went. I had nothing left, and being stuck in Hamburg with no money for food was no laughing matter, especially at Christmas.” It was terrible coming home. I felt so sorry for myself, work at Liverpool was a mess. I had the speaker on my back, scared to death of being stolen. I didn’t pay for it. “I was convinced I would never find England.”

Pete Best’s mother, Mona made endless phone calls to Hamburg to retrieve the band’s equipment.. Finally, on December 17, they played a gig at the Casbah Coffee Club – ironically where the Mona Best café the Beatles had previously played – with Chas Newby replacing Sutcliffe on bass.

Newby was shocked. The band he left months ago is back transformed. He was amazed at the great improvement in his playing and singing after his stay in Hamburg, and how strong Best’s drumming became.

History could have ended with this shameful deportation. But that was not the case.

In March 1961, Stuart Sutcliffe and Astrid Kirchherr cleared the administrative paperwork necessary for the band’s return to Germany. George Harrison has turned 18 years old. McCartney and Best paid deportation fines. The Beatles returned to Hamburg for their longest residency: 92 nights at the Top Ten Club, beginning on April 1, 1961.

This time it was different. His reputation grew among Hamburg gangs. In November 1962, when they returned again, they were set to play at the Stars Club, the most famous venue. For the first time they were able to stay in decent hotel rooms. Recordings of those performances were released as “Live! At the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962”a wild document of the band at their most powerful.

By then, everything had changed. Pete Best was fired and replaced by Ringo Starr in August 1962.. Brian Epstein became his manager. George Martin signed them to Parlophone Records. In 1963 they released the single “Please Please Me” and the world would never be the same again.