so let's not be suckers. we must not allow the freedom or dignity of any man to befriend by any act -- to be threatened by any act or word. let's forget about "we" and "they," let's think about us. ♪ week american history america" brings you archival films that provide context for today's public affairs issues. "let usfrom 1953, live!" which tells the story of germany refugees fleeing the soviet occupied zone from berlin to west germany. an estimated 20,000 germans were crossing the border each month. this u.s. army film is about 20

minutes. ♪ narrator: berlin, the target area for the strangest invasion of all-time. an invasion by its own people, germans fleeing oppression in the soviet zone. since 1945, the german republic has granted political asylum to more than 9 million refugees, expel these, and displaced persons. but since the soviet's instigated the policy which slammed shut borders between east and west, the only escape left is through berlin itself. weary, frightened, and always

after dark, these hunted people are pouring into the city on an average of 20,000 per month. but desperately overburdened city finally broadcast an urgent appeal to people in the soviet zone with these words -- do not leave unless you are in direst need. the zone must not be deprived of honest freethinking germans. we beg you, stay on the soil of your homeland. and still they come. a new nation is growing rapidly within berlin. the mission of the homeless. here by law all refugees register and asked to be granted sanctuary. of the 2000 refugee camps in the german republic, over 70 are in berlin, and the new ones are continually being added. these are the acceptance camps, where each refugee must live in

weight until his case is reviewed while his fate is being decided. out is a camp, a bombed factory providing shelter such as it is during this period of waiting. the faces you see, the voices you hear, the interviews you will witness are the faces and voices and stories of these refugees themselves. every day familiar people. they are from every walk of life. people like you and me. the things that happened to them ford happen to us, here but the grace of god. here a person loses his name and becomes a number. it is better to become nameless than risk the safety of someone left behind. a blanket,a tin plate and a cup. these become a person's total earthly belongings. because of a desperate lack of housing facilities, families

have to be separated. >> you have to sleep in the men's ward. >> the men from the women. ♪ narrator: and in a strange place so far from home is frightening and very lonely. maria had a pretty little house in saxony of her own. ♪ are able to carry their own beds to the sleeping quarters. it is not difficult. straw pallets to lay on the floor isn't heavy.

there is loneliness here too. a man who has been married 40 years is writing a letter to his wife, denouncing her as a communist, telling her he hates her and not to think of him again. he hopes this will protect her and when the police questioned her about his escape. she will understand how much he really loves her. they are homesick too. the dream of school and friends. if they are allowed to stay in the west, they won't be beaten into a hopeless cripple as this man was. his crime? he was arrested as a saboteur because he had no coal to heat his restaurant celebrating lenin's birthday. there is one hot meal a day. berlin feeds in this one camp more than 4000 refugees in the two hours between 6:00 and 8:00 each night. it is not much of a meal. but there will be no frightening

knock on the door to disrupt their supper, and perhaps there ir lvies. and for this they give thanks. ♪ values change in times of deep trouble. children are not afraid to sing the hymns of their homeland. ♪ now listen, all you are -- your home and your parents and your

pictures, all the things you like and your tors, your books and your trains. maybe you had a little kitten. and you miss all that, yes? one thing you have not lost, you know what i mean? our good lord, and you can never lose him if you really love him. he is always with you even if you don't see him. he watches over you and you need not worry. >> a man's mind images and thinks again, reading a newspaper without fear of the rest. beneath the playground is a strip of rubble behind barbed wire, but the west berlin police minutes the boys friend and protector instead of a uniformed threat to hide behind. a moment'ser privacy, but a boy and his wife

can comfort themselves with the signing dream that their baby will be born in a free land. a farmer's wife can speak out loud against oppression and godlessness. and in the bad moments of loneliness and despair, a woman can seek and receive comfort from a priest of her own faith. >> imagine at that time more than one million people had been and 1946.1945 >> yes, i know. >> and the catholic church had .ost more than one third where did you go then? >> saxony. >> and you liked it? drop in the repair shop, and so did i. later, we built a little house

with a small kitchen. ago, they weeks destroyed our dreams and hopes for the future. we went to a birthday party, and there were some other people, too, and they were very nice, but then the men started to talk politics. .e could not believe it when they came and warned us we should leave right away. we could not take anything, not even a bag. he said we would not have time to pack. we left within five minutes. our daughter? away onent her vacation. we could not take her with us. her.uld not wait for >> is she still there?

in the russian zone? or is she -- >> yes, she is still there. >> i see. you must not worry about her. you again. with remember how many terrible things have happened, not only there, everywhere. i left in the middle of the night, and 700 of my parishioners, too, you know? we could not by any food. we had to look for it in the houses which were abandoned, but we made it after all, and you made it, too. there is always a way out even if we do not see it. >> in the same kitchen where food is dispensed for the stomach, food is dispensed for the soul. not much of a church perhaps, but god is there an man is free to worship as he pleases. man is free to preach what is in his heart. there are no toys to play with, but small hands are taught how to build something out of nothing, and the child who

learns how to build a plaything .earns how to build a life this little rabbit is the innocent reason an entire family had to flee. her kindergarten teacher in the soviet zone offered a prize to the child who told the best story about the things her parents talked about at home. the little rabbit won the prize. jump, little rabbit. jump, jump, jump. priest? olar, young no, just a boy who did not believe, among other things, that babies should be tracked into betraying their parents. >> why did you leave the russians own? >> i am against terror and oppression. my stepfather is a member of the communist party. his ideas, which i could not

fear. from the conviction that communism is something we must fight. >> all refugees must undergo a screening process during a waiting period. france and mys in mother worked in russia, but she did not earn enough, so she put in an application for release. some days later, she was told if she wanted release, she had to divorce my father. that was their condition. but my mother did not want a divorce, so we left the russian zone. >> before each interview, explain are standing to again and again why they came. >> you had schooling. why did you not finish? >> i was one of the best students, but i refused to join the youth organization. they considered me politically unreliable and would not let me take the exam. they only wanted me to become a member of the people's police

and that i would pass all exams. i know what that meant. the people's police is a military organization. >> why did this young couple ask sanctuary in a free world? >> i and my wife were employed in a factory. i worked as a technical designer and she worked as a typist. we got a commission for eight russian ships. the parts were sent to russia to be assembled. i was supposed to go to supervise the assembly. he wanted to make us sign a contract for an indefinite time. i told them i would not. the following morning when we came to the office, they said i was to work in the uranium mine. i know that is soviet forced labor. we could not accept their proposal, the most important thing was to get out of the russian zone. >> are these people politicians or persons who play with

politics? >> because i did not belong to i hadrty and because tried to escape, i was suddenly drafted to work in the army. they wanted me for a special job, to teach the workers how to shoot. i refused because a friend warned me. he said the russians would put me under pressure and they would force me to do it. >> are they plain, ordinary people like you and me? >> our factory produced among anything what was used for dressing uranium ore. the bolsheviks were determined to find a reason for confiscating them, the usual routine. because they could not find a reason, they opened a trial based on the phony charge that the last five years was absolutely incorrect -- the bookkeeping of the last five

years was absolutely incorrect. it was ridiculous. my bookkeeping was absolutely correct. of the employees of the owner had to be sentenced to 15 years prison or hard labor. obviously, i would be the victim. they had decided my books to be incorrect, so they were incorrect. i decided not to take chances, so this morning i left and arrived in berlin within four days. >> could the things that happen to them happen to us? tothey force every farmer deliver a certain amount of grain. i fled because i could not deliver enough, and the .upervisor came said. no, i i cannot do any threshing. the electricity is cut off, and then i said to the supervisor, isn't it much simpler if you

bring a rope along to hang me and all of us or bring me to siberia? after that, i grabbed his arm and said, you better watch out. maybe you will hang someday, too. he went away and two days testing of hours later, he comes back and gives me a letter from , an order of summons from the district council. it said that i had to report to the commissar and when i arrived , the commissar wanted the letter, and i gave it to him, and he put it on his desk. the commissar asked me then and accepted to the supervisor. i said yes. i am one of those who still hope the americans come. he said to get the idea out of my head, that i would deliver one and a half tons next wednesday and that better not

keep him waiting. it is what he said. when i got home, it was 6:00, and i said to my wife, what are we going to do now? we have been married for 50 years. belongedears, the land to my family. i was born here, and i will kill myself if i give it up. we will not do that. we will take our clothes and leave for west berlin, and that is what we have done. >> lights out. the moment of darkness dreaded by everyone. the nights are the worst always. it is at night when a woman and a man lies wakeful and thinks. it is at night when a person wonders desperately -- did i say it right? will they believe me? will they let me stay? will i have a chance to work and be free?

will i be united with my husband? >> our daughter -- we could not take her. we could not wait for her. >> for 200 years, the land belonged to my family. i was born here. >> in the drama-packed over him, the evidence is waived, the judgment pronounced. the three-man commission, and then elected by the people, has the terrible responsibility of deciding thousands of human destinies. no one is sent back. those who can prove they fled because of personal danger or other pressing reasons are granted the right to work and the right to live as individual people. for the rejected ones, a bare existence in overcrowded caps, objects of a necessarily meager charity, but knowing this, still, they come.

out of the darkness, up into the light. honest whoe and tried patiently to live under a system. people whose only crime was an unshakable belief in the dignity of man. ofple who held to be true mighty berlin's freedom bell. that all men derive to freedom equally from god. i pledge to resist aggression and tyranny wherever they appear on earth. but this world under god shall have a new birth of freedom.

>> interested in american history tv? visit our website. you can view our tv schedule, preview upcoming programs, and watch college lectures, museum tours, archival films, and more. american history tv at c-span.org/history. friends of from the the national world war ii memorial teachers network and five world war ii veterans recall their combat experiences and explain why it is important to continue discussions with students. three of the veterans took part in the batter of the bulge. this is about an hour and 20 minutes. >> look at this handsome gentleman right here. [applause] >> so, good