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service. garia for some just a summer paradise. for others the past to the free world. the 1980 s. when the world was still split into 2 camps with an iron curtain dividing europe bulgaria was part of the eastern socialist bloc it was also a magnet for tourists from east and west alike who were drawn to black sea coastal resorts. it became a place where germans from both sides of the wall could meet. you can see it was a citizen of the german democratic republic the g.d.r. in september 1988 he and a friend flew off to bulgaria from. you have on the scene yes the mob

went on from who and it was our 1st time on a plane and we were hoping to have a nice holiday here in bulgaria at the seaside. as well for me so it was really satisfying for me to go on a trip abroad for the 1st time. so until then i'd only been allowed to go on holiday in the g.d.r. . it was really a feeling of joy leaving the country for the 1st time. at the time anybody who wanted to travel outside the g.d.r. had to request official permission it was a lengthy procedure one that you had also gone through. the flight to bulgaria took 3 hours his greatest adventure had begun he was $24.00. this is. he arrived in borg was. the terminal was

bustling back then today it's been abandoned time seems to have stood still and the memories come flooding back. you can see lake was one of over 300000 tourists from east germany who visited bulgaria in 1988. he and his friend intended to spend 3 weeks relaxing and lying on the beach. they wanted to party meet people enjoy life. despite big brother watching. their mind. we were supposed to stay with our group or form smaller groups and never come into contact with others outside those groups over there with west germans for example and also feel of a sort of all. wrote them and there were many west germans there. but we were

supposed to stay with our east german group 'd. beginning in the 1960 s. the stasi started recruiting unofficial collaborators to work in bulgaria as holiday resorts these operative groups were given the task of keeping east german tourists under observation. at 1st the 2 friends kept to the unwritten rules they didn't want to draw attention to themselves or raise suspicion because they did indeed have an alter your motive for being there. and your we did want to have a nice holiday here but in fact we had other plans on the plane. and . its ship and hellish e t. if i'm going to choose i'm not the kind. as much as your time.

to fill up we got to train there was a nice t.v. film back then which we had watched the one where there were scenes where you saw the bulgarian border and it just seemed possible to go right up to it and cross at those in the film there wasn't much checking going on. so that's how we thought it would be. but the reality was very different the 2 friends were not aware of the fact that at least 339 people were shot trying to escape from bulgaria before 989 many of the documents relating to these deaths were destroyed if they were recorded at all. and his friend were on their way to their holiday destination sunny beach with gold necklaces and west german deutschmarks hidden in their socks to pay for their planned escape. in new guinea. i think

that's. the. only people who had hard currency could afford to spend an evening in the trendy bars and expensive restaurants this paradise was also clearly divided into 2 camps . the of one and what wouldst now is they want to sleep with the. rose garden. of any. mention or a currency. you can see it was one of those unlucky guests from east germany. this hotel here wasn't that great. the room was reasonably nice but whenever we

took a shower it would completely flood everything and we would have to wait half an hour before the water drained away. leave. today the hotel has been renovated is modern and inviting until 989 it was only for guests from socialist states. who used to be a translator runs the hotel now. directly opposite is the coop which back in the day was one of the most luxurious hotels on the beach. 10 west germans were also staying here in 1908. you can see why they quickly got to know them. they always took us with them and paid for everything. we didn't have much money we weren't allowed to exchange so much everything was restricted. so they took us with them to discos

and places we would never have gotten into on our own. we became friends and that was when we came up with an idea where. we thought maybe one of them could lend us their passports so that we could get on the boat to istanbul. then someone else would bring their passport back. but none of them dared. that was too risky for them. so the 2 friends had to rethink their plans. but they didn't give up. they were determined to leave the g.d.r. . they no longer considered it home.

but the decisive moment for me was when i wanted to go see my grandfather in the west who is turning 80. my mom and i both applied together she was allowed to go but my application was rejected. or. and then 3 or 4 months later my grandfather died. and my mother my sister and i applied and once again my application was rejected and so i thought to myself. why should i continue to live in a state that treats me like this. i can't even go to my grandfather's funeral. why should i live in this state. i have to try to get out of here.

well. i had already done my bit of the army for 18 months with my work plus over time i had finished school and my training and so on and i enjoyed it all and truly mind but then i was treated like this as if i were just a number and rejected without a reason. norma knew that was it for me. to be going no go no i love those walls on. the 3rd of october 988630 am. if you are. here. here for this is you you know this if you want. it had been a difficult night but there was no going back it had taken a long time to get this far the 2 had dressed up hoping to pass for west germans

they left their suitcases in their room after all they were just supposed to be going for a hike. yeah. they're just a nation was the strand mountains on the bulgarian border with turkey. difficult trying to go i was a border guard here in this region to go. to build and to go the number. of the people crossing the border illegally. well mainly from the socialist camp. germans reported poles and gary ins were to have come on holiday to bulgaria. but who actually wanted to get to western europe or to via turkey. or if you. ever thought. that was the post well

a part of it or. that's where i began my service in that building behind those streets. and here's the new building. he retired almost 10 years ago and doesn't like to remember his time as a border guard even 30 years after the fall of the communist regime the subject of border security in bulgaria remains to boot. he doesn't want to give his real name either. so we're calling him story on twitter off. he was 37 in 1988. on the 3rd of october he was on duty. he was highly concentrated. he could afford

no mistakes as this would lead to punishment. the border between bulgaria and turkey was a popular escape route because it was sparsely settled and there was a thick forest which offered protection and hiding places. resentment. i don't believe that anyone should have been allowed to escape by the border is. it was our job to catch anyone trying to flee. we didn't really know why they were leaving. if they had family in the west. or if it was just an adventure for the. simply to capture them. this didn't this is.

these are the remains of the old eastern block borders around. story until rob was on duty precisely here. at the time the area was finally raked so that movement could be easily detected. the guards would quickly notice any attempts to cover up tracks and be able to tell if it was an animal or a human who had left the tracks. the phony bushes behind the fence were also a deterrent. and each time the fence was touched a silent alarm was sent to the border post. but this was not the final obstacle the actual border was 2 kilometers away but few people knew this.

when the alarm was triggered 2 squads would be sent out one went to the 1st crossing a restricted zone with a tracking dog the other unit went to the actual border people trying to escape hardly had a chance this is the area in which most defectors were shot dead. no i never shot anyone. i never shot at people. and with some other gun if someone was already close to the border and we couldn't catch him. we would shoot him yes 3 times he thought these were warning shots. but there were places where people were shot without warning. but had been talking

about the actual border which was further away. if someone didn't give in so far up there. he would be shot at directly. there are a prison is there so. we had no idea that guards were shooting there and that the border zone was patrolled to such an extent it was almost more secure than in the g.d.r. . the on the 1st the 2 friends took the bus to book us then they took a taxi to maturing in the south of bulgaria. without knowing it they were already in the border zone where anyone would have come under suspicion of trying to escape . they asked some locals if they would take them to the border but everyone refused saying it was too dangerous. so they decided to

continue on foot. and. they had no idea what was going to happen. they still believed they had a good plan. and the lean years are good there was no transport there wasn't a bus there was nothing there was all there was only a very narrow road that was in pretty bad shape and not many cars. and there was a sign with the words border zone on it and we saw it but that didn't matter we knew where we wanted to go. but that we would come across a sign like this so soon that was surprising to us because we didn't know that we were already in the border zone so far away from the actual border. we'd always

thought it would be like in the film that we would be able to go right up to the border there would be a bridge a barrier or toll gate and we would simply go across it we didn't know about the whole border zone. from by out of control it's very close i saw a bus coming from a long way off. point and. i hope that my friend wouldn't wave it down but he did and the bus stop was as well as it was in all of green buses. my friend talked a lot and tried to make contact with the driver and to tell him that he was from hamburg and a tourist and he was going hiking here. was a real one. they tried to bribe the driver with deutschmarks and a pin a picture but that didn't work. we did

come down. normal i got increasingly scared and the minute i didn't know how to get out of the situation there were 3 warning or. we have all those who called. out i thought that we could maybe hijack the boss. bruce i could have easily driven it. would have been i but we didn't do that either of those number of them for all of them. and. suddenly the bus came to a stop 13 kilometers from the turkish border 13 kilometers to freedom. they were made to get out and wait by the roadside under the watchful eyes of 2 border guards. called andree by default and then a jeep drove up over for the above 30 they ordered us to stand up and they tied our hands behind our backs and pulled bags over our heads. and then they threw us into

the back of the jeep. on guns and free and we drove around for what felt like one or 2 hours. being careful we didn't know where they were taking us there was a feeling i just can't describe what we was extreme. they were interrogated the same day. it was you can see who likes turn 1st. he would spend 6 hours in the interrogation room. he tried to stick to the story he'd worked out with his friend not a word about their plan defection it was an elaborate fiction. there's a fog when the movie don't these questions came again and again on. the

interrogation. it went on for quite a long time. i told them we just wanted to visit the border area to look at it. we'd agreed in advance not to admit we wanted to defect. but the questioning went on for hours and they explained to us what the border area looked like and that we were lucky they hadn't shot us. and by that time i was so emotionally worn down that i told myself there's no point in denying it anymore and telling these people stories. so i admitted that i wanted to flee to turkey through bulgaria and then go on to my relatives in west germany. you can see when they spent the 1st days after the failed escape attempt behind the walls of the central prison in bogus in solitary confinement in darkness.

then he was transferred to another prison in sofia. there he shared a 3 by 4 meters cell with 2 other inmates. we only had a 10 leader a canister of water that counted as drinking water. we had a wooden spoon with dirt on it so thick nobody would have dared to eat with it for them and the toilet was just a bucket it's stored in the cell the whole day and it was only emptied once a day. in november 988. was transferred to east germany and put on trial the sentence was one year and 6 months in prison. so that out of the. story in total of couldn't find a valuable watch he'd been given as

a reward for another arrest. but he has many souvenirs from his years of service stored in his basement. now. i have no problem meeting up with him. i'm even curious to see him after so many years and shake his hand. so we can forgive. we all live in the same zone now in a free europe. back then. you know. so many things in our family yes she has 4 children. i don't have any hard feelings towards this man. that's just how i would want. so much has changed in the world after 31 years ago. nobody expected the wall would fall.

that everything would be so free and open. so none of us saw that coming. forward this escape was the only possibility we saw. before. we tried to make use of it. when we're home simple be open forum calls will. ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready wait a minute do i know you. 'd 'd you're going to serve welcome once again to bulgaria . the ship and the the given i never would have expected to meet the man who arrested me here in bulgaria 31 years ago. do you recognize me have you still got

the image in your mind i might have recognized your features a little over the long ago that 'd it's been a long time. but do you know how many people pass through here. you were just doing your job here your work but it's all in the past now. i mean. i want. i want us to forgive each other we're brothers now living in one family's. garia germany. here we ought to turn a new page. how many times are totally different and we're living in the here and now and not in the past. was released from prison early now he lives in southern germany and works as a stock man story and today half still lives in the area his son became

a big. order guard 2. decades after the fall of the iron curtain the bulgarian turkish border is once again closed off now it's meant to stop people from entering the european union.

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starts nov 14th w. . the a. lead . player. this is d.w. news live from berlin german football champions byron munich fired their coach nico colebatch after the club suffers their worst league defeat in more than a decade look at the reasons behind the surprise decision. also on the program opponents and supporters of lebanon's president michel aoun stage mass rallies thousands of ants.