Her. Bull garia for some justice some are paradise. For others the past to the free world. The 1980s when the world was still split into 2 camps with an iron curtain dividing europe bulgaria was part of the eastern socialist bloc it was also a magnet for tourists from east and west alike who were drawn to black sea coastal resorts. It became a place where germans from both sides of the wall could meet. Your conceal lake was a citizen of the german democratic republic the g. D. R. In september 1988 he and a friend flew off to bulgaria from. Me of all members of us from all the time for whom it was our 1st time on a plane and we were hoping to have a nice holiday here in bulgaria at the seaside when it was well for me so it was really satisfying for me to go on a trip abroad for the 1st time. So until then id only been allowed to go on holiday in the g. D. R. It was really a feeling of joy leaving the country for the 1st time. At the time anybody who wanted to travel outside the g. D. R. Had to put qwest official permission it was a lengthy procedure one that had also gone through. The flight to bulgaria took 3 hours his greatest adventure had begun he was 24. 00. And since. He arrived in borg was. The terminal was bustling back then today its been abandoned time seems to have stood still and the memories come flooding back. You wouldnt see it will a quiz one of over 300000 tourists from east germany who visited bulgaria in 1908. He and his friend intended to spend 3 weeks relaxing and lying on the beach. They wanted to party people enjoy life. Despite big brother watching. Over my words as we were supposed to stay with our group or form smaller groups and never come into contact with others outside those groups over there with west germans for example and also feel of a sort of all when they wrote them and there were many west germans there. But we were supposed to stay with our east german group d. Beginning in the 1960 s. They started recruiting unofficial collaborators to work in bulgaria as holiday resorts these operative groups were given the task of keeping east German Tourists under observation. At 1st the 2 friends kept to the unwritten rules they didnt want to draw attention to themselves or raise suspicion because they did indeed have an alter your motive for being there. We did want to have a nice holiday here but in fact we had other plans. And. Once youve been hellish e t. If i had to say im not the kind. As much as you tend. To fill up we got a. Friend there was a nice t. V. Film back then which we had watched the one where there were scenes where you saw the bulgarian border and it just seemed possible to go right up to it and cross at those in the film there wasnt much checking going on or so thats how we thought it would be. But the reality was very different the 2 friends were not aware of the fact that at least 339 people were shot trying to escape from bulgaria before 989 many of the documents relating to these deaths were destroyed if they were recorded at all. And his friend were on their way to their holiday destination sunny beach with gold necklaces and west german deutschmarks hidden in their socks to pay for their planned escape. And you can see. That. Was. The. Only people who had hard currency could afford to spend an evening in the trendy bars and expensive restaurants this paradise was also clearly divided into 2 camps. The. Rose garden. Of any. Mention or a currency. You can see was one of those unlucky guests from east germany. This hotel here wasnt that great. The room was reasonably nice but whenever we took a shower it would completely flood everything and we would have to wait half an hour before the water drained away. Leave. Today the hotel has been renovated is modern and inviting until 989 it was only for guests from socialist states. Who used to be a translator runs the hotel now. Directly opposite is the coop on which back in the day was one of the most Luxurious Hotels on the beach. 10 west germans were also staying here in 1988 youre going see when i quickly got to know them. They always took us with them and paid for everything. We didnt have much money we werent allowed to exchange so much everything was restricted. So they took us with them to discos and places we would never have gotten into on our own. We became friends and that was when we came up with an idea where. We thought maybe one of them could lend us their passport so that we could get on the boat to istanbul. Then someone else would bring their passport back. But none of them dared. That was too risky for them. So the 2 friends had to rethink their plans. But they didnt give up. They were determined to leave the g. D. R. They no longer considered it home. But the decisive moment for me was when i wanted to go see my grandfather in the west who is turning 80. My mom and i both applied together she was allowed to go but my application was rejected. But. Then 3 or 4 months later my grandfather died. And my mother my sister and i applied and once again my application was rejected and so i thought to myself. Why should i continue to live in a state that treats me like this. I cant even go to my grandfathers funeral. Why should i live in this state. I have to try to get out of here and. Also come. I had already done my bit of the army for 18 months my work plus over time i had finished school and my training and so on and i enjoyed it all. But then i was treated like this as if i were just a number and rejected without a reason. Norma knew that was it for me or to be going there or another of those was on. The 3rd of october 1988630 am. And. Yet. Here this is you hear you know you know this is you could you want. It had been a difficult night but there was no going back it had taken a long time to get this far. The 2 had dressed up hoping to pass for west germans they left their suitcases in their room after all they were just supposed to be going for a hike. Here. Their destination was the stranded on mountains on the bulgarian border with turkey. Going to go i was a border guard here in this region to go. To bulgaria and to go the number. Of the people crossing the border illegally. Well mainly from the socialist camp. Germans as you point out told us guerins were to have come on holiday to bulgaria. But who actually wanted to get to western europe or to via turkey. Or if you. Ever thought. That was the post well a part of it and. Thats where i began my service in that building behind those streets. And heres the new building. He retired almost 10 years ago and doesnt like to remember his time as a border guard even 30 years after the fall of the communist regime the subject of Border Security in bulgaria remains to boom. He doesnt want to give his real name either. So were calling him story on twitter off. He was 37 in 1988. On the 3rd of october he was on duty. He was highly concentrated. He could afford no mistakes as this would lead to punishment. The border between bulgaria and turkey was a popular escape route because it was sparsely settled and there was a thick forest which offered protection and hiding places. Result. I dont believe that anyone should have been allowed to escape by the border is. It was our job to catch anyone trying to flee. The world we didnt really know why they were leaving. If they had family in the west. It was just an adventure for the. Simply to capture them. This in. These are the remains of the old eastern block borders around. Story until rob was on duty precisely here. At the time the area was finally raked so that movement could be easily detected. The guards would quickly notice any attempts to cover up tracks and be able to tell if it was an animal or a human who had left the tracks. The thorny bushes behind the fence were also a deterrent. And each time the fence was touched a silent alarm was sent to the border post. But this was not the final obstacle the actual border was 2 kilometers away but few people knew this. When the alarm was triggered 2 squads would be sent out one went to the 1st crossing a restricted zone with a tracking dog the other unit went to the actual border people trying to escape hardly had a chance this is the area in which most defectors were shot dead. Not something no. No no i never shot anyone. I never shot at people here who are brutal with some other gun if someone was already close to the border and we couldnt capture that in a more than we would shoot in year 3 times. These were warning shots that. But there were places where people were shot without warning probably the only person but have been talking about the actual border which was further away. It was a mistake or a 3rd of the prison. Warden someone if someone didnt give in self up there. He would be shot at directly. But there are those that are so. We had no idea that guards were shooting there and that the border zone was patrolled to such an extent it was almost more secure than in the g. D. R. You know they owe. First the 2 friends took the bus to book us then they took a taxi to maturity in the south of bulgaria. Without knowing it they were already in the border zone where anyone would have come under suspicion of trying to escape. And. They asked some locals if they would take them to the border but everyone refused saying it was too dangerous. So they decided to continue on foot. And. They had no idea what was going to happen. They still believed they had a good plan. To give me a new the good there was no transport there wasnt a bus there was nothing there was all there was only a very narrow road that was in pretty bad shape and not many cars. And there was a sign with the words border zone on it and we saw it but that didnt matter we knew where we wanted to go. But that we would come across a sign like this so soon that was surprising to us because we didnt know that we were already in the border zone so far away from the actual border. Wed always thought it would be like in the film that we would be able to go right up to the border there would be a bridge or barrier or toll gate and we would simply go across it we didnt know about the whole borders own saloons. Come by a lot of conform very close our eyes. Bus coming from a long way off over your home most of my point and with me i hope that my friend wouldnt wave it down but he did and the bus stop was a little it was an all of green bus see through the booth with my phone and my friend talked a lot and tried to make contact with the driver and to tell him that he was from hamburg and a tourist and he was going hiking here. Goes home war goes through your mind you. They try to bribe the driver with deutschmarks and a pin a picture but that didnt work. There. Would be no come the normal i got increasingly scared. I didnt know how to get out of the situation. We have all those who call. Home i thought that we could maybe hijack the boss that i could have easily driven it. But we didnt do that either. But some of them fall from. And. Suddenly the bus came to a stop 13 kilometers from the Turkish Border 13 kilometers to freedom. They were made to get out and wait by the roadside under the watchful eyes of 2 border guards. And deep under a fall and then a jeep drove up over for the above 3 they ordered us to stand up and they tied our hands behind our backs and pulled bags over our heads. And then they threw us into the back of the jeep. And guns and we drove around for what felt like one or 2 hours. Before we didnt know where they were taking us it was a feeling i just cant describe it. He was extreme. They were interrogated the same day. It was you can see who licks turned 1st. He would spend 6 hours in the interrogation room. He tried to stick to the story hed worked out with his friend not a word about their plan defection. It was an elaborate fiction. Theres a fog in the movie dont these questions came again and again. The interrogation went on for quite a long time. I told them we just wanted to visit the border area to look at it. Wed agreed in advance not to admit we wanted to defect. But the questioning went on for hours and they explained to us what the border area looked like and that we were lucky they hadnt shot us those were in the group to insulate your person and by that time i was so emotionally worn down that i told myself theres no point in denying it anymore and telling these people stories. So i admitted that i wanted to flee to turkey through ball garia and then go on to my relatives in west germany. You can see when they spent the 1st days after the failed escape attempts behind the walls of the Central Prison in bogus in solitary confinement in darkness. Then he was transferred to another prison in sofia. There he shared a 3 by 4 meters cell with 2 other inmates. And we only had a 10 meter canister of water that. Counted as drinking water. We had a wooden spoon with dirt on it so thick nobody would have dared to eat with it. The toilet was just a bucket its stored in the cell the whole day and it was only emptied once a day. In november 988 you transfer to east germany and put on trial the sentence was one year and 6 months in prison. Story and total of couldnt find the valuable watch hed been given as a reward for another arrest but he has many souvenirs from his years of service stored in his basement. Now. I have no problem meeting up with him. Im even curious to see him after so many years and shake his hand. So he can forgive. We all live in the same zone now in a free europe. Back then. You know. Your family yes he has 4 children. I dont have any hard feelings towards this man. Thats just how it went. So much has changed in the world after 31 years ago. Nobody expected the wall would fall. That everything would be so free and open. Thats all none of us saw that coming. Forward this escape was the only possibility we saw. Before. We tried to make use of it. When were home simple be open forum for those who. Ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready wait a minute do i know youve. d d been there you know youre going to serve all are welcome once again to bulgaria. I never would have expected to meet the man who arrested me here in bulgaria 31 years ago. Do you recognize me have you still got the image in your mind i might have recognized your features a little over the long ago that its been a long time. But do you know how many people pass through here. You were just doing your job here your work but its all in the past now. I mean. I want. I want us to forgive each other were brothers now living in one familys. Garia germany. We ought to turn a new page. How many of the times are totally different and were living in the here and now and not in the past. Was released from prison early now he lives in southern germany and works as a stock man story and today half still lives in the area his son became a big. Order guard 2. Decades after the fall of the iron curtain the bulgarian Turkish Border is once again closed off now its meant to stop people from entering the european union. But i know this sound gives card goosebumps. Blood money a system like trying to cars are way behind it. We talked to some experts about how the cars of the future will sound. Read a little more. Than 30 minutes. Form a dining in a glass house covered 19 restrictions have prompted people to get creative. Restaurant in amsterdam now serves guests in many green houses that are virus kloof and set apart for a much shorter making place a good place to try. In 60 minutes on t. W. Closely. Carefully. Good news is. Good news today good. Discover. The i. Subscribe to. Documentaries on. The masses and i dont need to keep up a day available both for the over match and on the 4th im clear on the whole of the most recent article number later that mr obama. Is at the last dragon his words called the hard truth. To agree but are not. Globalize us is on its way to bring you more conservation the one who makes the screen are playing how can we pretend to have a chance to make a difference for goldline genius for the mental series a global sales on g. W. And all mine growing chloe. Plays. The way the flame. This is deja vu news live from berlin anger in the u. S. After a black man is shot dead by police at a Fast Food Restaurant the site where Richard Brooks died has become a makeshift Memorial Police have released the body of dash cam footage showing the moments leading up to the struggle that will ultimately cost him his life. Also coming up thousands of people rally across germany to demonstrate against racism and social injustice we report from the capital. And in the bundesliga shall go wrestle a respectable point