east and capitalist west and for 28 years it was the most tangible symbol of the cold war and during that time author and journalist. was one of the 1st west germans to write a novel about it 30 years ago i could have been shot to death just for standing here the space on the east side of the berlin wall was called the street. and. people risk their lives trying to escape from the communist east to the west but who would have been crazy enough to try to jump over the wall from the west to the east. the wall is about germans from both sides trying to overcome the border. mr who was in his mid forty's and on welfare 1st came to the attention of the police when with a running start from the west he jumped the wall heading east the guards of the other german states arrested as a border violator he wore out his interrogators who wanted to know why he hadn't