Memories of a Frightened Teenager...

These past days we’ve been reminded that the fall of the Berlin Wall (the picture shows the Wall with the infamous “Todesstreifen” [”death strip”]) occurred 25 years ago, with the official celebration on November 9, 2014. For many Germans the Berlin Wall also involves personal memories either directly or through relatives or friends.

After the construction of the Wall in 1961 West-Berliners were not allowed to visit East Berlin initially. These restrictions were later eased for holidays and other “hardship” circumstances. (And East Germans could only travel to West-Berlin and West-Germany with special authorizations and under tight control in later years). On the other hand, West Germans could usually visit East Germany and East Berlin after obtaining a visa. A trip to Berlin had become a tradition for many senior classes in German High Schools and so, in 1965, I found myself on a bus to East Berlin going through the Wall at Check Point Charlie.

While I do not recall being checked as we entered East Berlin, I certainly remember being stopped on the way out. We all had to get out of the bus and present our passports to an East German border guard. He looked at my passport, then asked me to step into an adjacent room. A grim-looking officer waved the passport in front of my face and said that it was not valid. By that time (and while our teacher and my class mates looked on helplessly through a windowed door) all I could think of saying was “But this is a new passport, I just got it before the trip.” The officer looked me up and down, looked at the picture again and then, reluctantly satisfied and after what seemed like an eternity, finally said: “Then you’d better sign it.”

I still remember now that my legs were shaking when I joined my class again. What seemed like an insignificant and easily corrected oversight was a serious issue in 1965 in East-Berlin (and, with heightened security concerns, maybe it is now again everywhere). Many attempts to escape from East-Berlin were made, through tunnels, through sewers, in cars, by swimming, etc. Over 100 people were killed during such attempts, when the East German Police received shoot-to-ill orders shortly after the Wall was built. And while I, as a West-German, should have had nothing to fear, the climate of intimidation, cold-war press reports, etc. had affected me as well and frightened me.

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