Escaping East Germany: Swimming Across the Spree into West Berlin in Video
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- Опубліковано 26 вер 2024
- It was a warm Sunday in August 1988 when a group of tourists visiting Berlin caught something unexpected across the Spree River. People were escaping East Germany.
It was August 21, 1988, and four people decided to risk their lives crossing the Spree River in an attempt to escape East Germany in the hope of freedom in West Berlin. Three men and a woman risked their lives, and watching it today made everything look like a distant event in the past, but that was Berlin at the time.
Original: www.bpb.de/med...
Article: ftrc.blog/esca...
Absolutely beautiful!
If people think East Germany was wonderful, we need to look at the people who fled and lived and we also need to look at those who were killed as well. Having seen the area and how much it has changed, it is incredible because it looks so different. I do wonder if the Germans who escaped the East were able to return to the East when Germany reunified?
You are so right there too.
I have seen East Germany and I can say that it looks more grim than other parts of Germany, the Soviet architecture really plays a part in that. It was purely propaganda that pointed toward East Germany being so wonderful, it was Communist on paper but almost Fascist in reality.
@@wilhelm4948 Having been to the DDR (East Germany) in 1985 and 1988 it looked very grim and run down then, it looks very much better now, but perhaps it still does not look as prosperous as western Germany. I found the people very pleasant
I saw this years ago and I always wondered why they didn't swim at night?
Maybe this was the opportunity they had, and they couldn't wait for the evening.
Because intent to cross was also illegal; if a guard saw you at the border at night and you couldn’t come up with the perfect excuse you would be arrested and imprisoned for wanting to cross. You also need to remember that at most points there were hundreds of feet between the wall and where the people were permitted, a sort of no-mans land.
probably so they didnt drown? night swimming is a terrible idea
at night the guards are more active, because they expect the escapes at night
Access to the river itself was prohibited. Maybe they had no chance to climb the pathway over the roofs by night. (Torches would have given them away. And climbing by night is dangerous.)
THE WONDERS OF COMMUNISM
They'll be swimming the Thames soon to get away from Starmer's Stasi....
"Jetzt kannste sowieso nicht mehr schiessen, die Hand ist schon im Westen."
Ha!
Love the fact that someone took the risk (which could have actually gone awfully wrong) because it was the right thing to do (and help her get to safety).
Republikflüchtlinge, viele von denen waren 1991 wieder da.
The swim to freedom
The thought that germans were able to do such artrocities 40 years ago makes me wonder what I will whitness during my life time. The covid time was just a taste. There are always plenty people following instrutions blindly