Читать книгу Where in the World is the Berlin Wall?. 170 Sites around the World онлайн

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The last person shot trying to escape over the Wall was 21-year-old Chris Gueffroy who was shot on 5^th February 1989 whilst trying to escape along the Britz district canal.⁴² He had heard from a friend that the order to shoot at the Wall had been lifted and wanted to escape military service with the NVA (National People’s Army) by fleeing. Whilst the four soldiers who broke off the escape attempt were given a cash reward of 150 Marks and military awards for their actions by the border police, Gueffroy’s friend, who also tried to escape and suffered substantial injuries, was sentenced to three years imprisonment. Significant international pressure led Honecker to lift the order to kill on 3^rd April 1989.⁴³ For Chris Gueffroy, this order came too late.

Despite the deadly threat and many failed escape attempts, 40,101 people managed to flee from the GDR to the West during the 28 years that Germany was divided by the Berlin Wall and the barriers along the Inner-German border. 5,075 escaped over border fortifications in Berlin.⁴⁴ In order to alleviate the inhumane situation resulting from German division, the government began looking for humanitarian solutions for those who had been affected. In December 1963, the West Berlin Senate negotiated a pass agreement with the GDR authorities that allowed West Berliners to visit their relatives in East Berlin for the first time since the Wall was built. 730,000 citizens made use of this between 19^th December 1963 and 5^th January 1964. In total, 1.2 million visits were registered. In the same year, after holding dificult negotiation talks, the Federal Republic managed to buy the first political prisoners in the GDR out of prison. This is how 33,755 political prisoners were bought out of prison and resettled in the West by the time the GDR had collapsed. Large sums per capita had to be paid for this.⁴⁵