ESCAPING FROM EAST GERMANY

Escaping from East Germany under the  Iron Curtain was no easy feat. Not being shot  and making it to the other side was a miracle.

"You can't imagine what living under communism was like," said Mr. H.  "You can't imagine what it's like to be hungry. I escaped. To this day, I have dreams about being shot in the back.There were no marines to help us. We were under the Iron Curtain."

Guided by angels, Mr. H is a renowned artist and designer who speaks English with a most delightful German accent, and one that I just love to imitate, 'I sink!'  when he means "I think." He told me what it like to live under the watchful eye of the Russian soldiers and then under the vindictive auspices of the East German soldiers.

Apparently it was miraculous that the Ruske soldiers were as lenient as they were considering the way that the Nazi's invaded Russia and killed thousands for the merest action if it disagreed with the soldier of the day.  The East German soldiers were worse and shot to kill, Mr. H said. They were snipers.  If a civilian tried to escape and was shot, the body was left where it was to teach others a lesson.

East Germany under communism was a tough place to live.  The border guards were carefully chosen. If there were dissenting family members or relatives in West Germany they were ineligible to be part of the 'Grenztruppen.' The unit was filled with informers looking for evidence of people trying to plan escapes, some which made it into Life and Look magazines.

In the 1970s, I frequently traveled to Berlin. While there, the U-Bahn traveled through East Germany --an unpleasant trip. No matter how often I rode through the East German Zone, the travelers all reacted the same way, silence, no fidgeting and eyes down. Knowing how free I was, and how limited they were was a sinking feeling. The guards looked scary. I was so glad to be back in W.Berlin.

Eventually, I discussed this with my favorite U.S.soldier Tom Graetz, a lifelong friend who introduced me to pilots and showed me roundabout ways to get to and from Europe for extremely discounted rates.  Very bold moves when I look back, but at the time, it was a cakewalk once I knew the lingo. Can't do stuff like that now, but 30+ years ago, it was fun and exciting especially for my heavy wanderlust streak.  My soldier Tom would try to speak German and I would laugh because he screwed up the tenses.  But, he tried.  

I heartily miss Tom, the crazy hot Pad Thai we'd eat as we'd sweat like useless Polish pigs stuck in a cranky pepper ditch, the Shacklee products that Tom thought I needed, the great beer he "forced" on me at Dragonmead.  Tom's gone now. But we were there for each other through thick and thin, midnight confessions,  and to the end. When Tom wound up in the hospital for the umpteenth time, I had the unpleasant task (careful about signing up to be the end-of-life contact) of telling him that he had 6 months left if that and that it would be spent on his back never leaving the bed. Or, he could leave the planet. It took 3 tries for the words to leave my mouth. He looked at me and made his decision in a split second.

Courageously, he chose to die and did so in less than 6 hours. His final words to me: Kick shit and don't let 'em shoot you in the back. I'll see you on the plane. You know which one."