European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 12, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Tunnel from a Generator Hul right Neil to the Eastern Side of checkpoint Charlie they used a Small hand Drill and a pair of Cable Cullers As recently As the night of March 30-31. 1983. Two men on Iho Eastern Side of the Wall shot a steel lipped Arrow 131 Leel Over to a lower roof top in the West. There was a thin Nylon thread attached to the Arrow and a waiting Helper used that to put Over a stronger stretch of steel wire the two then came Over on primitive pulleys one female in Wesl Berlin made an imitation . Army uniform obtaining genuine buttons and insignia by saying it was for a theater production. She borrowed an american Ford Sedan stole some . Military License plates drove Over to East Berlin and brought Oul two friends. A Young Man and woman who were engaged. In East Berlin a female student made soviet army uniforms Tor three male student friends f hey got a car and were respectfully waved Over the Border by Volos. The Girt hidden in the Back. At Bernato Strasse right at the Wall in the East and before All windows were bricked up a 77-year-old woman was scared to jump into a Blanket held by West berliners Volos grabbed her just As she jumped and tried to pull her Back up but let go because of the angry crowd. Next door however four people died when they jumped and missed the blankets. Truck Driver Klaus Brueske became a hero when he brought Oul a group by crashing through a Frontier Barrier keeping on driving although he was shot and fatally wounded. There were 14 similar breakthroughs in the first year one of them even with a locomotive. An austrian who wanted to gel his Fiancee and her Mother out bought a Small ear that was so Low it could get under the Frontier Polo. He succeeded and a Little later an Argentine did the same thing. But then the Volos attached vertical poles to the horizontal bars Peter Fechter tried to climb the Wail on aug. 17, 1962. He was almost Over when he was shot by guards Only calf distance and we Wall separate the Kreuzberg a of we Berwin my from seat bar to. For 50 minutes he Lay moaning bleeding to death West Berlin police threw first Aid kits Down to him bul he was too weak to use them the Volos carried him away just As is died Siegfried Noel be had come out before and dug a Tunnel from the Wesl to the East to bring Oul his wife and child. But he did t know that students were digging another Tunnel Only two houses away and the ground had hollowed on the surface when he broke through on june 29,1962, the Volos were waiting. He was shot As he emerged two helpers were arrested and sentenced to life. Treachery was rare but it did exist and Dieter Wohlfahrt was a victim. A West Berlin student he had already helped More than 50 people escape and readily agreed when he was asked by a 20-year-old girl if he would help her Mother come Over. In december 1961. Just As he was cutting the Border wire on the outskirts of Berlin he was killed by gunfire trom guards hidden in Bushes on theol her Side. The Mother had Lold the Volos Aboul the plan two hours earlier. Ashamed policeman Heinz Kliem escaped himself a Lew Days later and revealed the betrayal. There Are two other names written Large in the Wall s history Rudoll Urban and Cinther Litfy. Urban. At. Became the first victim of the Wall on aug 19,1961. When he slipped climbing Down a rope from a House on Bernauer Strasse Silfin. 21, was the first person to be shot and filled by the Volos. It was aug. 21,1961, and he was swimming across the Humboldt Harbor West Berlin mayor worries about influx of Asylum seekers byjoe Mapother stall writer est Berlin is facing a new onslaught of refugees one that governing mayor Eberhard Diepgen fears could upset the social balance in the City. An Ever increasing number of refugees seeking political Asylum in the Federal Republic of Germany is using East Berlin s Schoenefeld Airport As a Landing spot from which they Cross into West Berwin and ask for Asylum. Coming mostly from third world countries the influx of refugees has unleashed a political debate throughout West Germany and West Berlin regarding the Federal Republic s capability to absorb the newcomers. The Asylum claims Are based on article 16 of the Basic Law West Germany s Constitution which allows the granting of Asylum on grounds of political persecution. Speaking to foreign journalists in a press conference last week Diepgen said he worried that Many of the newcomers Are arriving Lor economic father than political reasons Wesl Berlin s Large number of Gas Arbeitar foreign workers recruited to ill Blue Collar jobs in West Berlin could face stiff Job Competition from the new arrivals Diepgen said. The problem is that not Only other nationalities but other cultures and religions must be taken in the context of the Large number of foreigners who Are Here legally As a result of being recruited Diepgen said. Our problem is that our policy toward Asylum seekers is turning us into a land of Choice Lor emigrants and to Don t want that because we have yet to solve our own the mayor said there is no comparison Between the streams of refugees who came to West Berlin before the City was walled in by the East germans in 1961 Mora than 30,000 refugees almost All of them East German citizens led lowest Berlin in the month preceding the building of the Wall in August 1961 in july of this year nearly 7,000 requests for political Asylum were registered by the West German Interior ministry. Iranians lebanese and palestinians comprise the three largest groups of Asylum seekers. This is far fewer than the 10,419 persons who fled East Germany during the first week of August 1961. However article 16 does not differentiate Between Easl and Wesl German citizenship. Therefore an East German crossing into the West need not file an application for political Asylum. The mayor said about 25,000 East germans have crossed to West Germany in the past two years and he expects about the same number this year Diepgen called on the East German government to cooperate in finding a solution to the new Stream of refugees. As far As West Germany is concerned he suggested a solution might be found working within the Western european Community other countries Are far less Liberal in their immigration policies Diepgen said. The United Stales for example has for years imposed a quota system an new arrivals. The mayor of the divided cily also spoke of the Wall. We in Berlin have had to learn Over these 25 years to live with the Wall without however having to accept it we try to make it penetrable. Tuesday August 12, 1986 simply to chastise an inhuman acl on the 2sth anniversary of the 13th of August will do nothing Lor us Diepgen said. The important thing for Berlin s survival is the possibilities for the City in Spile of the Wall the possibilities for the City Wilh the Wall and the possibilities for the City because of the Wall the reputation that berliners Are staunch defenders of Freedom within the framework of the role o the City As a measuring stick of tension and detente can make copy Lor journalists but not or the Diepgen credited the policy of practical coexistence with the East Lor creating a business climate that has reversed the trends of the past two decades. Investments new factories new research facilities expanded educational opportunities Are things that Don t happen in a City that is a measuring stick of tension and detente he said. Glancing Back in history Diepgen criticized the Kennedy administration forgiving the soviet Union and East Germany the impression that a Wall could be built without serious repercussions. He noted that the 1961 Confron Lalion Between american and soviet troops at checkpoint Charlie resulted from East German refusal to allow an american into East Berlin not because West berliners were being denied Access. However he lauded the efforts of Western allies in the City to protect Access routes and said this was the underlying cause of the present Security enjoyed by berliners. Diepgen said there is no reason to celebrate 25 years of the Wall. But an occasion such As this gives us ground to contemplate and to reflect what sort of policy is right for the the stars and stripes Page 17
