961 east german troops moved into position on the boundaries between saudis Occupied Zone of germany and the sect is held by the u. S. In saas western allies britain france and the us the Cold War Division now stretched across the whole country not just through berlin more more barriers was set up along 1400 kilometers of east germanys frontin is making him into a dead. No mans land even whose ways like the elbow were closely watched although it is germanys Border Guards were initially prohibited from shooting women and children the ministry for state security better known as the stasi lady said they should not hesitate to use firearms even if women children and these traces often exploded to present. By 989. 00 more than 13 miners would be killed on the front east germany. My name is joe said i live it up on the shasta 42 in quotes back my parents are christian and to many have it i have 2 sisters and one is just a live baby. Shes 4. I play a lot behind the house with my friend up dollar yes hes 2 years older than me. Today he asked me if i wanted to go down to the river this should pray for the ive never been there without my parents. But abdullah knows how to get to the water. We want to look at the fish. Device or shine quote that. We got up on the hill have to kind how did stick in the water. Boca and his sister vinci lived in berlin scrotes but district. Jim was 6 when he and his friend went to the banks of the river sprite in west berlin in june 1974 men with a few of them had. Us later on my mother discovered that my brother wasnt in the yard anymore and asked our neighbor to come over and look after us. Then she went to see where he had gone. She found out that he had left our building that with another boy and then your house. With us. Mr focus were i tell you cast our prices on guest workers giuseppes father dominico had come to berlin in 1954 performable was built his wife arrived a decade later i got married and like many of the foreign immigrants in berlin at the time moved into a love went apartment in an old a tenement building the 1st sign just 2nd was and in 968 when we got bombed to try stories of me my brother was very proud of me as we played a lot together. And he was really gentle and careful with my little sister who was just a baby then. He always liked to feed her her bottle. Or he was good natured and open he didnt get wound up like i did even at the age of 4 he was the quiet one. We go. Back in the 1970 s. There were lots of different nationalities living in courts but neighborhoods children often play together when their. Errants work work. The open power bridge link the districts of quote spoken friedrichs time at least until the wall was built in 1961. Then the span was cordoned off. From then on the east German Border Police guarded to preach on the river itself which was already east german chima treat this point the west bank but there was an ideal place for children to play even after 961 many people also came down to fish or stroll to it was the same on june 15th 1974 and instinctive. Instinctively ran towards the water. She said that when she got there she could already see all those people and hear them shouting that a child had fallen into the water. And suffered a fine us. One just said it was with his friend on the banks of the sri that he wanted to fish something out of. The further and further. He slipped. And. A great lady my mother was acquainted with said she believed it was her boy who was floating in the water. Thats your son she said but she said. Hes there in the water with the. East german 35th on a regiment early in rubles burke was stationed at the upper bound bridge and cordoned off the river using boats more off the bridge. The Border Guards closely monitored the fog bank if any one stepped over the front into the river that there were authorized to bunk. And finally. On that saturday a border guard on the bridge saw the fall into the water and told the boat company commander. The Border Patrols report was short and to the point the boat Company Leader said he had been alerted by a shout from the west bank that a child had fallen in the water he said it was a provocation and informed his superior about the accident but he refused to launch an immediate rescue. Divers from the border regiment didnt recover body from the sri until about 11 am question in place and firefighters on the because the scene were afraid that would be shot if they tried to save him. The authorities in west berlin got in touch with my mother. The police told her that as soon as the body drifted into the eastern sector the west simply couldnt do anything thats. Not. My hair really stands on end when i read one part of the case file it says there werent any air bubbles or just a few. It doesnt matter that it was my brother who is in there its the principle of the matter i dont know its hard hard to know that there were people there who just stood by and looked on. Its a shot from. She said his body was taken to east berlin his parents were beside themselves with grief and his father collapsed. Mother crystal was only allowed into east berlin 2 days later to identify her son. But east German Authorities her pain at losing a child wasnt an issue is will. She said that she would never be able to forget what she saw he was there just as he was when they pulled him out of the water she said he was on a table then they just hold back the sheet as they do and 1st she just began to cry of course it was her son there but she still had to go through all the formalities of identifying him and proving that it really was her son. The final report of the ministry of state security said after the police had completed the criminal investigation it was determined that this was an accidental drowning caused by the child itself. Act and. The east German Authorities followed similar protocols in other cases in addition to just episode bokeh for more children between 5 and 8 years old died in the shrubbery. Under a sink secret crowbarred. Galvatron she and changing it. A firefighter from west berlin class after home was involved in 2 instance on the facts of the sri including one in which one of the turkish boys drowned he remembers that before the war was built the east german Border Guards in the west Berlin Fire Department used to Work Together if someone fell into the river. But after 961. 00. It was a different story when you are if the east german Border Patrol boats were there we were trying to talk to them but we never got an answer one. With the eye which is look and then turn away and refused to have any contact with us on the line it would sometimes take an hour id say sometimes longer before the scuba divers came and took over the recovery of the 4 and of course you can imagine all the people watching what we were doing from a bomb on we had divers ready to go all they had to do was get in the water. And. Of course the families really piled on the pressure shouting you cowards and the like. These i wish to argue that they didnt really understand what they were saying but we could sense the aggression by 20 cent. At church point in met drowned in the spray on may 11th 975 he was recovered just an hour later barely 5 meters from the west berlin back following day so heated protests at the scene. Made an ample members of the Turkish Community have held out with monday demonstration in memory of the 5 year old turkish boy who drowned in this way around 2000 people took part in the march 5000. 00 per zone and bitterly which went to the core of an over in the crowd burg close to the obama bridge. After the accident in east berlin Border Guards have prevented the west berlin fire brigade from launching a rescue effort from the western side. Only after a total of 5 children have died of fences and warning signs finally put up the authorities in western east berlin wrangle to 2 he is over Emergency Rescue procedures they finally agreed the 1st responders including the west Berlin Police and Fire Department and people at the scene to try to launch a rescue after that. No more children died on the border. Between his acca and burke was where the river formed the border between west in east germany. In august 9623 boys set out to cross this 100 kilometer long section of the front and escape to west germany by swimming across the l. Bar. One of the boys lost his life in the attempt. Of. Your highness rita and hammond wanted to flee with their friend and have. My name is get in camp im 15 years old and i live. Ill be in 10th grade in september what i really want to do is go live with my far behind so hamburg i visited him there once. After 3 years in a siberian labor camp father had moved to hamburg in 1956 of the family had split up and get remained with his grandparents father wanted him to finish school. He still said to some packages with jeans and a white belt with a buckle which was the style back then then get ahead of another people at school who wanted to flee to the west. Hemant was in the next grade up at the same school as korean camp 2 of his siblings had already fled west which meant he had few prospects at all want an east germany. My father was a selfemployed butcher and my grandfather already had a butcher shop so we were already viewed as capitalists. Basically children from the social groups were generally suspected of being non socialist. Children as. In the 7th grade i applied to attend an advanced high school the next year but my teacher told me that there was no way i would get anyone to sponsor me to go there it just wasnt done. Because if you already had 2 siblings in the west and all of my relatives were in the west as well as the state right away said we dont need people like that theyre not politically reliable its. From follow. Up and so right from the get go i had no chance of having a career there. From follow her and her focus in on it for you and mom were. My parents already realized i had no intention of staying in east germany and growing up in that system. He wasnt alone in the rituals of the socialist state. He quickly became friends with your highness 3 who was also 15. Kept getting into trouble with the system and i like going out together. We go and dance up stands the parents dance lessons and a hole right here around the corner where hell make good. Instead of a 1000000000. Commitment to socialism they were crazy about rocknroll and dreamed of a mark in the west phil han a strict his parents were well known dads teaches he just needed to sperry mithun the family lived in a small village nearby and to the summer of 1961. This is where your highness rita and his 2 cynics grew up they used to wander all over the place sometimes going down to the elba which was only 3 kilometers away. The river still marks the border then but it wasnt yet heavily guarded in 1981 only a few wooden watchtowers overlook the demarcation line armed patrols of east german Border Guards were few and far between. Others so im 5 years as a very big walmart or i dont cross far called the Border Police really want all that much of an issue. I never really said you cant go in here or you cant do this in order to begin with it just wasnt that strict spring. After he moved to share in your highness to look for like minded friends. And this was the resin. If i was around 15 then cover groups of kids who werent really politically committed any more unique and deeply jewish all the world really part of the political system and you had to find m ms esteems or. But it didnt take long to see who they were would. The boys make their plans to cross over to the west in the summer of 96021. 00 day they were behaving and hatched a plan to swim across the elba and your highness reached an old village 3 days before their attempt in camp joined them in you have been booked from school. As. Thats why the time joined us we werent about to call the whole thing off. Under the even someone who knew about the plan would have been riskier than taking him with a rifle. On august the 4th 1962 they took the train from sheer into no house about 5 kilometers from the elba. And. They waited in a restaurant until the light began to fade the only thing could they move into the restricted border area and get to be over the head to stay away from bread and ponds. Thats why they are pretty rough it was probably night really dark we just kept heading in the direction of the elder with no compass but at all sure we heard boots clattering on the street would move quickly into the next field and duck down until they were caught for doping Christopher Byers and then we kept going for as. They reached the dice on the elder just before dawn. It was already night. Fizzle thats really all we climbed up on to the dike that you have could come wolf when you are suddenly get called out the guards are coming. From this if you are to return. Around and saw them about 50 or a 100 meters away all so we ran down right away and got in the water but. The other boat had the right so when dan saw the guards it was every man for himself. I just started running. Again he went to group anymore everyone had to look after themselves with his resources and i. Ran to the end of a break water and jumped into the river. The good says and. The guards ran along the breakwaters and could already get a bead on us from the side. They opened fire and i saw a shot hit the water next to me about a metre away. Going. No one is in. Cant camp was quick and made it to the water 1st. He wanted to get away from the bank in the guards so he tofino. And hit something hot probably a star. Turn in camp was legal to graze. India couldnt companies. Get and i were maybe 5 or 6 metres away from each other from 6 made. Also im fine when i had to get out of the water i heard him say i cant make it in the family smear. I wanted to swim over to him but the border guard said do that and his dad told. Apparently injured and without help get can and cant sank under the water. Meanwhile the 2nd border guard following your highness raced to find a team with an automatic rifle. I dive as long as possible comm up get a breath and then go down immediately and my head came up again they fired again and again shot up the shot it went in and then do you. And then back down again and a bit further away you know. I would i kept on swimming until my stomach hits. Than i thought now you can stand up and youre in the west so to speak. British it was a lighted he had made it. Get can in camp never got back to dry land east german Border Guards daily report noted he was observed going on. So sunday at least on a goodish will make of even if he hadnt been such a good swimmer i could have gotten him on to shore. I could swim well and there wouldnt have been a problem to pull him along with me. He wasnt a big guy he thought as all. Of them was we were kids and he was light of life he said because i wouldnt have had any trouble taking him with me if we hadnt been discovered. In the name of the. Get can in chemistry. Of a new life in the west ended when he was almost there his death certificate noted. Can and camp was recovered from the via 6 35 pm on august the 10th 1962. Hammond broke it was arrested and interrogated by the state Security Service in the jail in cherry in. The summer of. Love when i was 16 i looked like a 14 year old son and of course i blamed harness. It organized it all i said and planned it and i just played the little dummy for a while and it worked to. Start off the club. A month later herman burkett was charged with a misdemeanor and convicted under juvenile law he was given a probationary sentence. But in the name comp never came up at all even during interrogations in the trial it was an embarrassment for the system they just kept silent about it all this. Camel birchard got off easy. The would be a sleepy had to promise to improve his attitude and began an apprenticeship as a bricklayer after military service in east germany peoples army the m. B. A. He was rehabilitated and later even allowed to take over his parents put your hands reached and found things in the west more difficult than he expected and started an odyssey through reception camps and hostels with the children of east german Refugee Families were often left to their own devices. That was quite tough with the rest trying to make contact with relatives in the west and all that. Sometimes it was really frustrating for 3 and. We had we had fairly close ties in our family and then it was just gone all at once like. A line on the ground which just on your own and especially holidays like christmas was in a way its really difficult. Nevertheless johannes did start a new life in the west finishing secondary school and going on to Study University after an amnesty from instrument if he could even visit his family. That was almost as exciting as running away in the 1st place because i was really scared when i got to the border. The way the Border Guards came i thought. They could have arrested meghann even then after 10 years or colorado. Good kind of camps case was reopened in 1995 but the investigation against the 2 Border Guards was then closed because get hadnt been hit by a bullet. Its a bit different than joran so in the end the actual guilty people were the officers or those who that say gave the orders and made them do it all of. These years councils as to the whole system is simply unforgivable events just how it was. If thats i always say that as a christian you should love your enemy. Chris but i just cant bring myself to do it. In 962 what the east german regime call the anti fascist and swamp was still lachie im 45 by 979 it was almost impregnable 30000 Border Guards patrolled the front here day and night with orders to shoot to kill would be escapees who could not be stopped in some way day after day they were charged with preventing people from leaving the country at any price and they followed those orders to the letter to form an escape attempt by 2 teenagers from hell a noise that. The flies shower and his friend hike over in the wanted to reach the west shore forest in the parts mountains. Pica was killed flashcard takes us in search of his memorial stone. Whats is in there it is these are sparrows. This is supposed to be worth i got tired of someone we havent been able to find out who it was but the stone here is painted h r on it with hi vis paint it across. You can still see the cross but sources in. Illinois stat is insects me and hot it was once home to many chemical works his post had jobs in the big Chemical Plants and do not ever fly shower and his body hardcover no grew up here they had known each other since they were little. And if a flash i was parents were Chemical Plant workers to. Leave months after their life. Other started off as a train driver and then he went to the state railways that i sponsored. During the most important 10 years of my childhood he was never actually around if you work lots of extra shifts to use because we needed the money. She worked in bona 1st as a clerk then she moved up to a job as a skilled chemical worker after training in a night school. How english is known for its prefabricated house most are on the matches trauma one of the citys main streets even it employed 36 and hardcoded next door employed 32. Is. My name im 15 i have a Sister School i cant say. I like my friends instead visit good friend of mine he doesnt like school either were both family failure. It was his fate hard more outgoing impulsive and funny and also because. In school we were really similar but he was under a different kind of Pressure Cooker he had a big sister and she finished 10th grade with top marks his mother had gone to university he never had a dad but there was always his big sister who was just great at everything. And she was compared to him all the time he wasnt the favorite son understood you. To fly i shall enjoy driving around with all the boys he did fine in school until the tents grate. On the windows when it got stressful because dad told me if you dont pass the exam dont bother coming home but the teacher said theres no way youre passive so i said they could kiss me where the sun doesnt shine and i wont ever come home again thats when i decided to run away. Youve asked me if i wanted to go west. I said yes right away i couldnt stand it to him anymore. They took the train from holland to nordhaus and i wanted to get to ben ecan in the hearts region across the border a new thing if i shall a new different from a trip on the hans cliff on a narrow gauge to our way to new family holiday. You dozens of books look we packed our backpacks and put on warm clothes because it was december Winter Weather and. We were sure wed make it and it was something that was almost so we had more stuff on impact than you could probably use in a day then we set off to the. Little. Mental mud you of i had always dreamed of going to sea with the east german merchant navy. But there was no chance of that because i was too good in quotes in schools as a model but that was my dream to really see the world. I fooled heiko didnt really have any great plans he just wanted out of there were worth. Trying to get the west there was still determined. To try and invent a construct right by the west german for. Years and we got off the train and walked on the road as all are going to be entered the restricted area. The edge of the restricted area went right along the railway line you need to pass to go in but. Without being checked the area was very tightly secured years and we came out of the woods and crossed this path well then there was a fence and we thought it was the fence for the real border to the ferry went through it once on the van we were at the edge of the woods and followed a cable channel towards the west to visit on. What they didnt know was that it was only the 1st space and they set off the mom when they went through it. And the 2 youngsters made their way straight through the forest and into the authorities on us isnt we went through a ravine and climbed up to the edge of the woods thats when we saw the fence you could see it from there when we heard the sound of a weapon being. I threw myself on the ground and heiko did too but he was really thin and impulsive and he popped right back up and shouted hurry up fly she go back and headed for the words of what. Fly should get the shooting at us. Even if you could already hear the shots they were aiming directly at us because hiker jumped up again and ran back. In other words they ended up shooting him in the back. 2 Border Guards killed 15 year old hackable in a hail of bullets they fired 51. 00 shots. The 2 Border Guards were 28 and 23 years old. The shooters were doing agency that was supposed to prevent people crossing the from tina. The case records fobbed later said the Border Guards distinguished themselves by showing great the childrens a shot to kill. And 196 vote going climbs the chief prosecutor in the trial of the 2 former Border Guards you can outbreak in class smile. He says the death of haka owner is an example of the implacable lity of the east german border regime. Uniquely leaving the logic of a boyfriend back again i see 30 to 40 soldiers have been sent out and they were searching the small area he. Couldnt. As there were these issues or so in this case the shots werent actually to prevent them from crossing the border and condensed. And later a report by the stasi said the attempted illegal Border Crossing could have been prevented without shooting to kill. Was doing his Compulsory Military Service in soldier working with the 2 Border Guards who did the shooting that day he was at the next guard post. When if they hadnt fired one or 2 Border Guards would have been sent after them. There and they just would have been arrested on. The door he wouldnt have gone through further along because after the alarm fans everything had been locked out. Of so they wouldnt have gotten out of it. And say 2 guards hadnt been here or there you then they just would have run straight across an up to fence number one its on everything there was completely my fault i mean they would have run into a minefield and been shredded by that so they wouldnt have stood a chance gunshots. It behind or showing the 2 guards who did the shooting was stationed in the barracks. They knew that the Border Guards were really supposed to shoot at children and young people. Children. Children had a special status. You could arrest them and hold them but you couldnt do anything else for yourself escalates to soak up shop that was laid down. It was an order. And anyway there was a law or an order that if you fired at a minor you were to aim at theres no extremities. The 2 pointed out still killed. The flash i was taken away from the scene if his friend stayed. In the barracks its over the systems already working at full steam to ensure no accounts of what happened to chance. The issue the most when i stood for a long time in the hallway spread out in search position. You know with both hands on the wall and my feet away from the wall spread out. At some point some guy from the stars he came in took me into an office and questioned me. I had to undress completely the works osun over control of the that was my 1st interrogation over to the us of a. While they were questioning if i shower his friends body was just put in a carriage at the barracks carnality carried out an autopsy. Helmet piotrowski was the border guard commander. Reputed to be as hard as nails his maxims shoot 1st ask questions later and reload as soon as an alarm goes off and really meant shoot to kill. As if carried by its nature when saddam said here on this National Front here. New provocations by enemy forces ok daily. Insulting and even going as far as shooting Border Guards back in their vision invade a country is true. I still dont get how we could be so cold blooded one deciding who would live and who would die and then be proud of it. But people like that were desirable in east germany and they were needed and used good for the good news too. The stars he did all they could to cover up the incident painstakingly working out a plan and even inventing a false story everyone involved had to sign a gag order they didnt want his mother the whole story either. A plan to cover up the circumstances the killing went into full swing the officers were told to send that woman had been accidentally killed cheering commission of a cron undercover stasi agents even attended was very. High because friend if a flash hour was taken to hull or more interrogation in a prison called the bridge ox because the color of ones facade. Only then was his lawyer able to tell him that his friend heiko had been killed he was then interrogated to get her several times leave out when they wanted to know how why and for what reason we decided to leave east germany to flee across the border i do with climate and knew about it how did we carry it out where do we make stops etc they asked again and again and again for. The flash hour was convicted of attempted legal Border Crossing and sentenced to a year in jail. If you do new show im still angry at the shooters this was because you might say they had their orders well yes they did the goodies but the guns are in their hands he is their fingers on the trigger and you know the feeling of tool. Would be and they had to decide whether to pull the trigger or not know and whether to aim true. East german Border Guards were supposed to make special exceptions for children and young people but the official image of the caring east german state was merely a mosque because the border regime broke the world down into friend or enemy minus who wanted to leave the country or even wandered into the border was seen as enemies of the state and they debts written off as collateral damage. Only east germanys peaceful revolution and the fall of the berlin wall in 1909 hardly put a stop to the fatalities on each arm and bowed out. To the point of strong opinions clear positions international perspectives. Conflict its really us and germany over the north streets or gas pipeline linking germany with russia looks at a boil over the American Science pandering to coating. Threatening drastic action find out more wrong to the point. To the point. Of needing 9 minutes on the t w. E squad. As it seeks. To understand the why. We need to take a closer look at. The experience knowledge to morrows it. A jewel with words. Where i come from we dont run away from a confrontation. When i was 5 years old my father took me to his fancy and i was hooked on the spot on a sports a few months old and to see all sold. Fencing as a language a good source for it is a conversation. Must go opponents understand that thinking of the men to get close otherwise. Its not unlike a tough interview really when interviewing politicians or culprits c. E. O. s you have to wait for the right moment just to get around that if incentives then make your dog fit. You have to take risks to get results. Ive got elbows and i work at d w. Informal. Language courses. Video audio. Anytime anywhere. Johnson is from. Is from. Britain is for. Is for. Beethoven is for everyone played by the children 2020. 5th anniversary. This is deja vu news live from berlin and an apology from the ballad rose as a free scores of jailed protesters there among thousands of people detained during demonstrations of the countrys disputed election but the concession doesnt look like it will put an end to calls for president lukashenko to resign. Also coming up the Afghan Government starts freeing the most controversial taliban prisoners as a final precondition for peace talks will this spell the end of the groups Terror Campaign in afghanistan or the start of a new one. Possible side