8 A
SUNDAY. AUGUST 12. 1962
MEDFOBD MAIL 1K1U0NE. MEDFOHD. OREGON
LBN WALL
ANNBV
By EDWARD SHIELDS
United Press International
Berlin-dOT-One year ago,
goateed Waller Ulbricht hung
out the bankrupt sign on
Communist East Germany's
policy and economy
The sign was a wall seven
leo.l high and 26 miles long.
It spelled out in concrete and
barbed wire that East Ger
many could survive only by
becoming a gigantic concen
tration camp.
The Communist regime un
der Ulbricht has survived for
the past year, literally with
its back to the wall. It bought
12 months' time with machine
guns and Ihe blood of Its own
citizens.
West Berlin, which the
Communists said would with
er inside their barbed-wire
noose, is booming, backed by
the determination of the free
world.
The wall stands as com
munism's desperate admission
it couldn't meet the compe
tition of the West.
Peace Treaty
In June, l!)fil, Soviet Pre
mier Nikita Khrushchev told
President Kennedy that the
Soviet Union would sign a
peace treaty with East Ger
many by the end of the year,
and Western troops would
have to leave Berlin.
To East Germans, that
meant Ihe closing of the
"Freedom Gate" - the end of
free movement between East
and West Berlin which had
been the way to freedom if
life under Communists be
came intolerable.
In June, about 10,000 East
Germans came through the
gate. In July, Ulbricht and
his lieutenants aired confi
dent forecasts of what would
happen when they controlled
all access routes to a "free
city" of West Berlin without
its- allied garrisons.
But they had to erect road
blocks to control East Ger
mans entering East Berlin
and set up armed sentries to
slop them from going on to
West Berlin and freedom.
They slammed particularly
harsh measures on the 60,000
lo 100.000 East Berliners and
East Germans who worked
in Wesl Berlin every day.
Flood of Refugees
Despite the ever-tougher
border controls. 30,000 refu
gees from Ulbricht's Ger
many reached West Berlin In
July.
East German industry came
almost to a standstill as skil
led workers, foremen and en
gineers disappeared. The har
vest could not be gathered
or transported because of the
manpower shortage. Teachers
and students, doctors and law
yers silently turned their
Wks on the "German Demo
cratic nepublic."
"Wo thought things would
get better but now they are
as bad as they were eight
years ago" at the time of the
June 17, 1053, uprising, one
refugee told UP1. "We can't
even gel diapers for our
babies."
The refugee stream became
a Hood as East Germans be
came convinced the freedom
gale would soon close.
On Aug. 2, liltil. 1,322 refu
gees registered at Marienfclric
Refugee camp in West Berlin.
Six days later the total was
1.741. The next day l.l'-K
more people left East Ger
many forever.
A desperate Ullirii'ht flew
In Moscow to consult Khrush
chev, whose threat had loosen
the Mood. I
The only answer the rulers
of the Communist world could
find to slave off East Ger
many's collapse was brutal,
harsh and crude.
The Halchot FalU
On grey, showery Aug. 12.
the line oi refugees at Marion
h ide contained 2.400 people.
Hundreds more were with
relatives in West Berlin.
Then the Communis" lei
Iheir haUhet fall.
At 130 a i 1111 Sunday,
the 13th of August, the East
German news agency AUN
reopened ils silent wires and
began to run a series of
paralyzing decrees.
It was announced East Ger
many was setting up a system
of "reliable supervision and
effective controls" between
East and West Berlin, with
the backing of Ihe Soviet
Union and Ihe Communist
Warsaw pact.
Thousands of Communist
police suddenly turned up In
Ihe darkness even as the AON
teletypes were rolling out Ihe
fateful message. The police
began lo suing barbed wire
along the border.
More than HO crosMiii:
points between East and Wesl
Berlin shrank that night lo
13. In the weeks thai followed
they came clown to seven
road crossings and one rail
line.
Subway and elevated (rain
connections were severed
I ;
"'""
''f?:V.-':&.s: "-1J-JJm.
In late afternoon on May
23. Cpl. Peter Goering, 21,
arid Cpl. Kurt Laumcr, 20,
confidently sprang on the
wall beside a border canal
and began to pump machine
pistol bullets into a 15-year-old
boy swimming to the
Wesi.
A West Berlin policeman
raised his American-made car
bine and fired two shots, kill
ing Goering and seriously
wounding Laumer.
The boy still is in a West
Berlin hospital, permanently
crippled.
Goering became a Commu
nist martyr.
A month later, Cpl. Rein
hold Huhn, 20, tried to stop
a West Berliner running for
a tunnel exit in East Berlin.
Huhn fell dead of bullet
wounds as Rudolf Mueller,
his wife and two children and
sister-in-law reached Wesl
Berlin through the tunnel.
West Berlin police claimed
Huhn was shot by other Vopos
trying to kill Mueller, who
had tunneled into the East
to rescue his family. The Com
munists accused Mueller of
the murder.
Tunnels became one of the
most popular means of escape
as the wall grew thicker and
the Communist guards grew
tougher.
West Berlin university stu
dents organized many tunnel
projects. One even came up
in a border cemetery where
a tombstone would silently
swivel and a "mourner" could
disappear underground and
come out in West Berlin.
The greatest tunnel escape
of all was in January, when
28 adults and teen-agers dug
from the cellar of a house
on the border in East Ger
many into West Berlin.
The sewers also were an
escape route until the East
Germans drove metal bars
across them, from the surface,
and then threw down gas
grenades when they suspect
ed an escape. Reliable sources
estimate about 30 refugees
died in the filth and darkness
of the sewers.
Moved to West Germany
After the wall went up, and
morale went down, several
thousand West Berliners gave
up and moved to West Ger
many. But in the last six months,
many have returned and the
places of the others have been
taken by new settlers, brought
here by good wages, good
housing and good jobs, by the
desire to live in one of the
world's most sophisticated
cities - and even by interest
in being in one of the most
exciting outposts of the West.
Part of the renewed confi
dence in Berlin is recognition
that the United States and the
French and British forces
here have met and stood up
to Communist challenges.
Last October U.S. and So
viet tanks stood muzzle-to-muzzle
in the first hostile con
frontation as- the communists
attempted to interfere with
U.S. rights lo enter East Ber
lin.
The attempt failed. j
East Germany tried to ha-:
rass and interfere with Al
lied traffic on the Autobahns ,
and was rebuffed. '
Soviet aircraft tried to
squeeze Allied planes out of
their vital air corridors to
West Berlin. The West filled
the corridors with its own
planes.
One year after the wall,
Wes. Berliners know the Com
munists still have an arsenal
of weapons to use against the
city. West Berliners have
faith in themselves that they
can meet the challenge, and
faith that their Western allies
are standing by. If either
faith is ever broken, the Com
munists won't need their wall
-the whole city will be theirs.
Twistin' Time Comolete With Prizes! t
-aasS23 TEEN DATE
C48b3 FAIR DANCE I
-vSO" A? I
. -sJ With OiVIt BnnfW I
p 1 I r ...... a
77 Thursday at 8:30 !
IM! DOUGLAS j
AUGUST 15-19 R0SEBURG
BERLIN WALL A West Berliner walks
along the wall at Scbastianstrasse between
the U. S. and Soviet sectors In Berlin. In
residential areas like this, several lines of
barbed wire fences on the East side make
Communist border guards are in the center
background. The numerous loudspeakers
mounted on lamp post are used by Reds to
blare propaganda across the wall into West
Berlin. It has been one year since the wall
an approach to the wall impossible. Two was built. (UP! telephoto)
don home and property and IRV
darl a nntir I i tn nl.n.iikn.n ! -
It was a simple question of
how.
In the first few days, It
was fairly easy. In more than
one place, West or East Ber
liners clipped holes in the
barbed wire, often under the
pvp nf rVimmnnictc a 11 a r H c i liu.
J " ifrv.;.'
and escapees scrambled lUjttVj
Others rammed can or f
trucks throtich the wire r " .
swam ihn rivnr and nana Ik i!,. ' wWt
nn the hnrrlWs. nr ovin man-
aged to evade Communist In "Vt
comrois on irains emering
West Berlin.
Then the Communisls be
gan to replace the barbed
wire with concrete blocks,
diverted from the construc
tion of much-needed apart
ment houses. And the guards
became much tougher.
West Berliners were angrv,
shocked and frustrated but,
restrained by Iheir own po
lice, they made nn serious
attempts to smash Ihe wall.
The Western powers also
were slow in reacting, except
In protest notes, and denun
ciations. A Wesl Berlin student,
trapped lit his parents' home
in East Berlin on Aug. 13
week end, dashed past loung
ing guards three days later
and leaped over the concrete
wall lo freedom.
He voiced the feelings of
many East and West Ber
liners at that time: "We ex
pected the West to give the
Russians an ultimatum when
thev sealed the border Sun
day. We did not expect the
West to shrink back.
Wesl Berlin newspapers
headlined "The East acts.
What does the West do? The
West docs nothing."
Mavor Willv Brandt wrote
a personal letter lo President
Kennedy, asking tor wesiem
support.
The appeal - which has
never been made public -drew
a dramatic answer.
Combat Trooo
A combat-ready battle
group of the U.S. Army. 1.
500 men with their vehicles,
rolled up the Autobahn from
West Germany on Aug. 20.
Thev were met at the edge
of the city by Vice President
Lyndon H. Johnson and Re
tired Gen. Lucius D. Clay,
the "Hero of Berlin" from
airlift days, who had flown
in from Washington.
The Wesl Berliners gave
an almost hysterical welcome
to the troops, sent lo beef up
the 5,000-man U.S. garrison
here. The British and French
forces also were reinforced.
Johnson pledged the Unit
ed States would continue to
defend Berlin's freedom and
a month later Clay returned
as President Kennedy's per
sonal representative to watch
the tense situation.
West Berliners fell their
spirits rise as Clay flew over
East Germany to the little
Wesl Meruit enclave of Stein
stuecken, or sent U.S. tanks
and armored cars patrolling
the Eist-West city border
atom! the wall.
! But the wall itself a
! growing stronger and more
i permanent. Where there had
been one strand of barbed
wire, mere now were iu.
Where there had been two,
there were concrete walls
East Berlin garden allotments
beside the border were bull
dozed clear of trees and gar
den houses so they could not
be esvape routes
rrtr tpt! in
a -. i' c -w k U: w. v a . - - , s a .
B,'-KU ' wtJ. . ''.
V:f W "Iff,
eMrW,l1l.,J
CHECK MAP Here, tourists in West Berlin study a map of
the divided city, showing the Communist wall and other
border fortifications between the Western sectors and the
Communist Zone. The map is offered along with picture
postcards of the wall at Potsdamer Platz, which is frequented
by tourists. (UPI telephoto) j
inlo Bernauerslrasse when
Vopos (people's police), came
to move him. He died In a
hospital a month later.
Three wooden posts circled
with a barbed wire wreath
mark the place on Bernauer
slrasse where 5!) -year -old
Mrs. Ida Sieckmann died in
a drop from her apartment
window on Aug. 22.
Two days later. Communist
bullets claimed their first vic
tim. Guentcr Litfin. 24. tried
to swim across the Humboldt
basin on the border canal sys
tem. East German transport
police fired at the swimming
youth until his hands flew up
and he sank.
At leasl 40 East Berliners
or East Germans have died
in sight of freedom. The
Wesl German police tried
lo hold their fire. In many i
cases, they knew, the Vopos :
firing at refugees were aiming
their shots wide.
There always w-as a chance
that the Vopo apparently try
ing to stop an escape was
hoping soon to follow suit
himself.
But there was no doubt
when Bemd Luenser, 29, ap
peared 75 feet above the
street at Bernauerstrasse and
called for help. Vopos on the
rooftop were firing at him.
West Berlin police fired back.
One Vopo was injured. Bui
another rushed at Luenser,
who lost his grip and missed
Ihe firemen's net far below.
A cross marks the place.
But many Vopos did flee.
often in
names of many of them arc i sometimes singly
unknown to Ihe Wesl. pairs.
Their memory is marked j Several Communist police
by Ihe granite block on the and Army members were shot
edge of the Spree river in by their politically - induc
tile center of Berlin, inscribed i trinated comrades as they
to "The Unknown Refugee ." j tried to cross the six - inch
Broadcast Plea I while line to the West.
Most Vopos paid little heed j The loyally-Communist Easl
lo Ihe plea broadcast by loud- police have not come through
speaker trucks and big plac-1 unscathed. Border gunfiglils
aids "Germans, don't shoot j became more frequent this
your fellow Germans " spring.
ft fumwmiW
On Hcrnaurrstrasse, the
When the dawn came, the windows of East Berlin apart-
Berlin escape rutin li.id n,,,i houses (rooting on Ihe
closed. i West Berlin street were be-
A chapter of drama and)Uui wal led up and residents
tragedy, high politics and ; with friends or relatives in
squalid betrayals had opi ned ; West Berlin were moved out
Etcape From Eait i The wall begun In take its
Escape from East Germany toll
was nn longer a matter of i Rudolf Urban. 47, jumped
making a derision to ban liom hij upier-floor window C
"One must reign supreme . .
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