European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 3, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Thursday april 3, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 9 the Road to by Don Tate staff writer Freedom s just another word says a song of the 60s, for nothing left to q Dobromir Neikov it meant a great Deal More than that. He had just made the big break. Leaping from the Van was As final As jumping off a Cliff. And then he was running with All his might for the 6-foot Fence with barbed wire across the top the last Fence. Neikov shouted the soldiers in the Van comeback Dobromir Neikov had made up his mind. Freedom was t just another word. He was going to get it or was going to get it now. Muscular powerful built like a sawed off Shotgun he grabbed the Fence jerked upward flattened the wire with his belly rolled Over and hit the ground. Then he was up stumbling and running. The wire Cut him up but that is nothing when you re running for your one moment he had been in Bulgaria the next he was zigzagging across a slowed Field in Greece. Greece was supposed to be Freedom. But Greece was gunshots. Automatic fire from a bulgarian guard Tower snapped past his ears and ripped up the ground. A bul Garian Border guard came after him firing and Yelling chasing him into a wheat Field and cornering him hundreds of Yards inside Greece. I was facing him Neikov said. He had his ak-47 right on me. 1 Felt something was going to happen. Instinctively i threw my hand up just As he banged me with his Rifle butt. It caught me partly on the Han partly in the blood pumped from the head Gash. The guard jammed the muzzle of his Rifle into Neikov s stomach. Go Back commanded the guard. The very last place Dobromir Neikov was going Yasback. He d already been there. He grabbed for the gun. The guard opened fire. It was june 28, 1965. Neikov remembers that not everything in his life seem to pass before his eyes in that moment before the muzzle flashed. Just everything that mattered. It was Dobromir Neikov s second attempt to break out of Bulgaria. He got caught the first time too. He had tried to go out through Yugoslavia and when he was returned the bulgarian Captain and guards who met him at the Border smiled greeted me warmly said Welcome Back then marched me behind a build ing 300 Yards inside Bulgaria and beat the hell out then they took him to downtown Sofia not the quaint Sofia of the tourist tales but the Sofia of the 5 foot thick prison Walls. Central prison Sofia. My cell was about 3 by 5 meters with a Small barred window he said. The lights stayed on 24 hours a Day. Every 30 seconds a guard looked in through a Slit in the window. They wanted you to know they were in control of your every breath. 1 was forced to stand at Parade rest 10 inches from a Wall from six in the morn ing till ten at night except to go to the bathroom be interrogated eat warm water soup twice a Day and the interrogations were designed to produce a Confes Sion a signed statement that i had committed serious crimes against the they did t want reality they wanted a confession. They had a confession quota to meet. Everyone must sign a confession. And then everything would be All right they said. 1 never signed. I told them the Only crime i had committed was wanting to be free of you want to be free they said. What is free and they beat me. They told me 1 was a dangerous political dissident. I was 18 years old at the time and i was not a dangerous political dissident. But spending time in Central prison was the Best school to learn to Neikov was shifted to the top floor with the political prisoners. On his Side of the hallway were prisoners serving time. On the other Side across an opening were those sentenced to die. In the Middle a net was Strung to catch prisoners attempting suicide. I had to clean the cells of those sentenced to die. They were never told when they would be taken but it was always after Midnight. They did t sleep much. Every night they waited. Sometimes the guards would have to pick them up carry them out drag them off. You could hear them being dragged away screaming. Sometimes you could hear goodbye Brothers see Youin another world we prisoners would take our wooden shoes like Shower shoes and Start banging the doors. All this made me think. I began to see communist ideology social injustice from a different Point of View. My political education was getting pretty far advanced. I began to understand that bulgarian communism is not the most enlightened system in the world. Bulgarian communism is More soviet than the soviets. They Are under the thumb of the soviets even now to a degree that they arc really the 16th Republic of the soviets. They Are even worse than the soviets because every thing is smaller Bulgaria is probably the most totally centralized policed and controlled political dictatorship in the a world. Everything is completely regimented from the time you arc a child. You Are born to serve the party and the motherland. At least Russia is so huge that away from the Center Oul in the hinterlands things can loosen up As Long As you Don t bother the Early in his life Dobromir Neikov had seen his father lose his Small farm to the state because he could t meet the impossible taxes and production quotas. As a Schoolboy Neikov had heard Joseph Stalin virtually deified for years As the perfect stainless steel Leader the Crystal pure communist who could make no mistake. There was a bust of the Leader in every schoolroom. One Day these goons came into our school and went through the rooms throwing Alj the busts of the stainless steel Leader out the windows. We students looked at each other. I remember thinking yesterday he was untouchable the Leader of Mankind and today the throw him out the window i came to believe there Are few things More cynical and hypocritical than a party member using the system. Communist purity True believers i came to believe there is no More kiss ass cover your ass system in Neikov committed himself to leaving that system. His second Chance came when he was 23 and working As a diver on a River project close to the greek Border. After the divers finished their work they were driven away in a Van on a Road Only Yards from the Border Fence. Bulgarian soldiers were also in the Van. They said they were there to protect us. But we knew Why they were Neikov did t care. He smelled Freedom. He saw Greece. This was it the moment. Now or never he thought. He leaped from the Back of the Van moving Down the Road losing his shoes and plunged for the Fence. Now Neikov Felt the Rifle jammed in his belly. He grabbed at the Rifle. The Border guard fired. The rounds missed blowing just past his Side and under his Arm. We re both holding the weapon struggling to take it. He s bigger than me taller. But 1 am stronger. I wrestle him to the ground. I m on top but i can t see Good. Blood is running All Down in my face my eyes. We re hitting each other and fighting for the Rifle. His hand is in my face and 1 remember biting meat of his hand with my Teeth and he finally lets go of the then 1 have him. "1 aimed the gun at him and he says please Don t shoot me a few seconds before this Man was trying to blow me away. And How he says please Don t shoot me " Neikov did t. He knocked the guard out and kept running. By then it was evening dusk with Clouds building up and soon it was thundering and raining1. He kept going All night in and out of Woods his Bare feet All Cut up bleeding in about 40 places. But when you Are running for your life you suck it up you keep going you hardly even notice it. I was just trying to get As far away from As the next morning the blood streaked wet filthy ragged apparition carrying an ak-47 Rifle limped into a greek army Post. They seemed rather scared when they saw me he recalled. But from then on Neikov was on his Way to America. Today chief warrant officer Dobromir Neikov 43, of the . Special forces is with the 108th military intelligence in 8th inf div in Ger Many. Because of the sensitive nature of his work and his past he prefers his picture not appear with this Story. But every time desperate characters come crashing out from behind Thehron curtain Dobromir Neikov knows where they re coming from psychologically and he knows where they re going. Freedom he says it softly reflectively. Then louder. He smiles and talks about How easy it is for people who have never known the loss of it to become Freedom spoiled Freedom fat Freedom ignorant. The biggest fools i be encountered on the subject of communism he says Are romantic souls who have never lived under
