Was 13961 east german troops moved into position on the boundaries between sobe talk you pride zone of germany and the sectors held by the u. S. S. R. As western allies britain france and the us the Cold War Division now stretched across the whole country not just through berlin more and more barriers was set up along 1400 kilometers of east germany scrunchy is making him into a deadly no mans land. Even hootch ways like the elbow were closely watched although it is germanys Border Guards were initially prohibited from shooting at 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 these traitors often explore present. By 19 if you know im more than 13 miners will be killed on the front between east and west germany. Heisenbergs that my name is james that i live it up on the shasta 42 in quotes back to my parents are christa under many have it so i have 2 sisters and one is just a live baby in french and shes 4. I play a lot behind the house with my friend up dolla hes 2 years older than me. Today he asked me if i wanted to go down to the river. Pray for the ive never been there without my parents. But up there learning knows how to get to the water. We want to look at the fish. Device for shaan course. We got up on the hill have to kind of how to stick in the water. Just episode bokeh and his sister vinci lived in berlin screwed spent district. 6 when he and his friend went to the banks of the river in west berlin in june 1974 men with the feet up and much. Of 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. Was. Just focus from a tell you cast advises all guest workers giuseppes father dominico had come to berlin in 1954 perform the wall 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 low print apartment in an old a tenement building that his son just set up was and in 1968 when we got. To tie stripes with me my brother was very proud of me 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 1917 there were lots of different nationalities living in courts for neighborhoods children often played together when there. Errants work work. The obama bridge link the districts across spoken friedrichs time at least until the wall was built in 1960 blog. Then was cordoned off. From then on the east German Border Police gathered to preach and the river itself which was already east jim and treat this point the west bank of the river 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. My mom instinctively ran towards the water. She said that when she got there she could already see all the people and hear them shouting that child had fallen into the water. Into its passage to find us. One just said was with his friends on the banks of the. 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 g. s f. A she said. Hes there in the water. East german 35th order regiment. Was stationed at the upper bound bridge and cordoned off the river using boats most of the bridge. The Border Guards closely monitor the far bank if anyone stepped over the front into the river that they were authorized to other. And finally. On that saturday a border guard on the bridge saw just at the fall into the water and told the boat company commander. The Border Patrols report is 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 just step is body from the sri until about 11 am west German Police and Fire Fighters and onlookers 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. The london height. 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 little odd. She said his body was taken to east berlin his parents were beside themselves with grief and his father collapsed as mother crystal was only allowed into east berlin 2 days later to identify her son. German authorities her pain at losing a child wasnt an issue itll. Set up with that 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 pulled back the sheet as they do and 1st she just began to cry and 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 she said after the police had completed the criminal investigation it was determined this was an accidental drowning caused by the child itself. Act in. The east German Authorities followed similar protocols in other cases in addition to just have his a vocal for more children between 5 and 8 years old died in the shrubbery. Under a sink secret crowbarred. And cow khatron she and chechen met. A firefighter from west berlin class after who was involved in 2 instance on the banks 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 and if the east german Border Patrol boats were there we were trying to talk to them but we never got an answer one with contact with the i would just look and then turn away and refused to have any contact with us on the show then it would sometimes take an hour id stay 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 about only we had divers ready to go all they had to do was get in the water was all and. Went. Off 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 the 20 cent. A turkish boy chechen man drowned in the shrubbery on may 11th 1975 he was recovered just an hour later barely 5 meters from the west berlin back following day so heated protests at the same. Made an airport members of the Turkish Community have held there with monday a demonstration in memory of the 5 year old turkish boy who drowned in this way around 2000 people took part in the march 5000 per zone and the tally which went to the core of him 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 with fences and warning signs finally tossed up the authorities in western east berlin rangle q 2 he is over in the agency rescue procedures but finally agreed that 1st responders including the west Berlin Police and Fire Department and people at the same could try to launch a rescue after that. No more children died on the border. Between hits and ports and burke was where the river formed the border between west and east germany. In 19623 boys set out to cross this 100 kilometer long section of the front and escape to west germany by swimming across the. One of the boys lost his life in the attempt. Of. Your hand and hammon bearcat wanted to flee with their friend and have. My name is get im 15 years old and i live. In albion 10th grade in september what i really want to do is go live with my father hines 3 humbard i visited him there once. After 3 years in a labor camp gets father had moved to hamburg in 1956 of the family had split up and get remained with his grandparents. Or wanted him to finish school and sharing but he still said to some packages with jeans and a white belt with a big buckle which was the style back then then get ahead of another people at school who wanted to flee to the west. Henman was in the next grade up at the same school as camp. Already fled west which meant he had few prospects. I thought of as. 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 nonsocialist. Commissioners. 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. From follow. Up and so right from the get go i had no chance of having a career there. From former unleashed stuff or focus in on it for you. And then brought us on to. My parents already realized i had no intention of staying in east germany and growing up in that system. Insisting. He wasnt alone in hating the rituals of the socialist states. He quickly became friends with your highness rich to who was also feasting them kept getting into trouble with the system and i like going out together mean. I dont know we go and dance up stands the parents cave dance lessons in a hole right here around the corner but hell make good. Instead of a burning commitment to socialism they were crazy about rocknroll and dreamed of a market in the west. Street his parents who teaches he just despairing within the family lived in a small village nearby and to the summer of 961. This is where your highness rita and his 2 siblings grew up they used to wander all over the place sometimes going down to the elbow which was only 3 kilometers away. The river still much to the border then but it wasnt yet heavily guarded in 1961 only a few would watch towers overlook the demarcation line armed patrols of east german Border Guards were few and far between. And for. 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 strings. Isnt that. After he moved to share in your highness rushed 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 poorly jewish or the world really part of the political system and you had to find them games as teams 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 9621 day they were bathing and hatched a plan to swim across the elba and your harness raised its old village 3 days before their attempt could in camp join them in you have been booked from school. 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 962 they took the train from sheer into no house about 5 kilometers from the elba. They waited in a restaurant until the light began to fade. Only then could they move into the restricted border area and kicked. They had to stay away from bread and ponds. And. Destroy our retreat and it was probably night really dark we just kept heading in the direction of the album with no compass written all sure we heard foods clattering on the street would move quickly into the next field and duck down until they were gone to the opening just before byes and then we kept going for visits. They reached the darts on the elbow just before dawn. It was already night. Thats really all we climbed up on to the dike you have could come from there would suddenly get called out the guards are coming. Got involved large dogs for instance if you were to return. Around and saw them about 50 or a 100 meters away so we ran down right away and got in the water by. The other boat had the good service went down some of the guards it was every man for himself. I just started running. I didnt want to group anymore everyone had to look after themselves of his or not. Your highness ran to the end of our breakwater and jumped into the river. The girl says and then. The guards ran along the breakwaters and could already get a bead on us from the side so. They opened fire and i saw a shot hit the water next to me about a metre away again. Nor high position. Get campus quick i made it to the water 1st. He wanted to get away from the bank in the governments so he. Picked her up. And hit something hot probably this time. In camp was bleeping and i needed to bring. India can completely. Get and i were maybe 5 or 6 meters away from each other from 6 medo else and im there. On the symphony when i had to get out of the water i heard him say i cant make it in on the family smear. I wanted to swim over to him but the border guard said once they do that and hes dead told. Apparently injured and without help that can and cant sank under the water. Meanwhile the 2nd border guard following your highness reached a 5 to 10 with an automatic rifle. I dived as long as possible come 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 know 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 there was a lighted he had made it. Get can in camp never got back to try to land east german Border Guards daily report noted he was observed going on. So i have some good news for make of even if he hadnt been such a good swimmer i could have gotten him on shore. I could swim well and there wouldnt have been a problem to pull him along with me. He wasnt a big guy if god is all. We were kids and he was light of life he had a kind i wouldnt have had any trouble taking him with me if we hadnt been discovered. In what. It can in camps train. 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. Common book 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 honest wish to organize that all i said and planned it and i just played the little dummy for a while and it worked to. Start off the clock. 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 colonel 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. Time and birchard got off easy. There would be a c. P. A. Had to promise to improve his attitude and began an apprenticeship as a bricklayer after military service in the east german peoples army the envy any he was rehabilitated and later even allowed to take over his parents. To found things in the west more difficult than he expected and started an odyssey through reception camps and hospitals with the children of. The families were often left to their own devices. That was quite tough. Trying to make contact with relatives in the west and all that. Sometimes it was really frustrating for 3 and. We had fairly close ties in our family and then it was just gone all at once rick. Got a line on the ground which just on your own and especially holidays like christmas was always really difficult for me. Nevertheless johannes did start a new life in the west finishing secondary school and going on to study it university after an amnesty from instrument if he could even visit his family again. Just that was almost as exciting as running away in the 1st place because i was really scared when i got to the border. Of the way the Border Guards came i thought. We could have arrested meghann even then after 10 years or colorado. Get kind of camps case was reopened in 1995 but the investigation against the 2 Border Guards was then closed because good hadnt been hit by bullets. Was a bit different than journey so in the end the actual guilty people were the officers or those who that say gave the orders and made them do it off. Hes just gone says the whole system is simply unforgivable thats just how it was. They always say that as a christian you should love your enemy. Chris but i just cant bring myself to do it for. In 162 what the east german regime call the anti fascist defense wall was still largely im forced to hire out part by 979 it was almost impregnable 30000 Border Guards patrolled the fronting a day and night with orders to shoot to kill would be escapees who could not be stopped in hawaii 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. To the flies shower and his friend high coke when the wanted to reach the west or forest in the mountains. Parker was killed flashcard takes us in search of his memorial stone. Whats in there it is these are still draws. This is supposed to be worth i go to. Someone we havent been able to find out who it was but the stone here in painted h r on it with hive is paid at a cross. You can still see the