This is the earth. That. Bull garia for some justice some are paradise. For others the path 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 on the 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. You can see who was a citizen of the german democratic republic the g. D. R. In september 1988 he and a friend flew off to bulgaria from. We of all members are just the mom meantime from who and 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 and 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 that they have also come. At the time anybody who wanted to travel outside the g. D. R. Had to request official permission it was a lengthy procedure one that you had also gone through. The flight to bulgaria took 3 hours his greatest adventure had begun he was 24. 00. This is holmes. Here arrived in bourg was. The terminal was bustling back then today its been abandoned time seems to have stood still and the memories come flooding back. You see lake was one of over 300000 tourists from east germany who visited bulgaria in 1988. He and his friend intended to spend 3 weeks relaxing and lying on the beach. They wanted to party meet people enjoy life. Despite big brother watching. Mundo their minds. 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. Beginning in the 1960 s. The stasi 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 all teary or motive for being there. And hell we did want to have a nice holiday here but in fact we had other plans on the plane. Thanks. If i did says im not the kind. I was just returned. To full up we got a. Trend there was a nice t. V. Film back then which we had watched on the one hand there were scenes where you saw the bulgarian border and it just seemed possible to go right up to it and cross it those in the film there wasnt much checking going on which was 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 to try 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 deutsche marks hidden in their socks to pay for their planned escape. And you. Think unleashed and i think thats. 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. They want to sleep with the. Rose garden the one to give you. Have any influence board machine or a currency. You can see was one of those unlucky guests from east germany. But when. 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 coup which back in the day was one of the most Luxurious Hotels on the beach. 10 west germans were also staying here in 1908. You 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. 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. Really and or. And 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. Have to try to get out of here. Well. Because. 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 and truly mind 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 nowhere none of those was on. The 3rd of october 988630 am. If. You. Hear her this is you get to know this if 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. Yet. Their destination was the strand mountains on the bulgarian border with turkey. Trying 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. Jummy supported poles and gary ins were to have come on holiday to bulgaria. But who actually wanted to get to western europe via turkey. 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 bill. 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. I dont believe that anyone should have been allowed to escape from 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 there. Was simply to capture them. This in. Of of. These are the remains of the old eastern block borders on. Story until rolf was on duty precisely here. At the time the area was finally ranked 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. In a thorny bushes behind a 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. No i never shot anyone. I never shot at people. And with a month a gun if someone was already close to the border and we couldnt catch him. We would shoot him yes 3 times if these were warning shots. But there were places where people were shot without warning. But had been talking about the actual border which was further away. If someone didnt give in self up there. He would be shot at directly. There. 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 the video on the 1st the 2 friends took the bus to broadcast 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. The law 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. Renewed their goods there was no transport there wasnt a bus there was nothing there. There was only a very narrow road that was in pretty bad shape and not many cars. Of guns 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 border zone. From by out of control. I saw a bus coming from a long way off. From our point and with me i hoped that my friend wouldnt wave it down but he did and the bus stop was one of those well it was an all of green bus. 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. They tried to bribe the driver with deutschmarks and a pin a picture but that didnt work. Would be done. Normal i got increasingly scared. I didnt know how to get out of the situation the works or. We have all those who come. Out i thought that we could maybe hijack the boss. I could have easily driven it. With a lie but we didnt do that either. Though some of them from all from. Suddenly the bus came to a stop 13 kilometers from the Turkish Border 13 kilometers to freedom and. They were made to get out and wait by the roadside under the watchful eyes of 2 border guards. Called drip under a fall and then a jeep drove up over for though both recently ordered us to stand up and they tied our hands behind our backs and pulled bags over our heads like we will go for it. And then they threw us into the back of the jeep and on guns and we drove around for what felt like one or 2 hours. Being careful we didnt know where they were taking us there was a feeling i just cant describe what we was extreme. They were interrogated to say may day. It was you can see wholl extern 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 when the movie dont release questions came again and again. The interrogation. It 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. 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 bulgaria and then go on to my relatives in west germany. You can see would like 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. We only had a 10 leader 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 but then when the toilet was just a bucket it stood in the cell the whole day and 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. So by that. Story entitled all 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 we can forgive. We all live in the same zone now in a free europe. But i dont. See now back then. You know. So many things in our family yes he has 4 children oh bravo. I dont have any hard feelings towards this man. Thats just how would want. 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. None of us saw that coming. For we this escape was the only possibility we saw. Before. We tried to make use of it. When were home so import be open forum and those who. Ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready wait a minute do i know you ready ready ready. If youre going to survive welcome once again to bulgaria. And the the me 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 d 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 family oh garia germany. Gotta get my hair. What we ought to turn a new page. Of nostalgia 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 border guard 2. Decades after the fall of the iron curtain the bulgarian Turkish Border is once again closed on. Now its meant to stop people from entering the european union. One of the most durable spacecraft ever turns 30. Space telescope. Broadening our risers for decades. And supplying us with a marvelous images of deep space. Its a Vital Research instrument serves as our window on the universe. Tomorrow today. In 30 minutes on. Innovation. But can it conquer the major issues of our society. The flu season the founders down the younger petroleum meets modern day heroes in asia. Ready to take on this challenge with their unique ideas to look at those 2 problems and make them one solution. To sally this week on g. W. How does it feel of the hour. When i come from but all of thats good to cisco its just like with chinese food thats a measure of where i am as a boy wizard minds me of hope after a decade. Some living in germany chinas photos one of the salem i miss the most i bet taking a step back and i see a stable im going to tell the difference when nala moblin of good suppressed says american nation that exists as a part of the laws havent been ever mentioned it in china catch me if im not up chinas people wondering if theyre going to save it but if your have a right to unlearn last saturday it is this is their job just under the my how i see it and thats why i love my job because i tried to do it exactly it is an hour a day my name is out into it and i walk back to the new. 2 movement that is for me. Is for. This for. Me to. Be told and is for. Being told it is for the 1st. Beethoven 2020. 5th anniversary here on d w. Blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah play. This is news coming to you live from europe reopens most internal borders after months of travel back restrictions to block the spread of coronavirus are lifted for all but a few areas but authorities warn this will still be a summer like. Also coming up standing up for press freedom in the philippines journalist. To keep fighting after being convicted