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Author Topic: Twenty years since the last Berlin Wall victim  (Read 714 times)

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Offline ReardenSteel

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Twenty years since the last Berlin Wall victim
« on: February 08, 2009, 08:05:03 PM »
From Hot Air's Ed Morrissey
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/02/08/twenty-years-since-the-last-berlin-wall-victim/
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This year will bring the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Iron Curtain, the victory of the West in the Cold War, and the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union.  This week brings us another related anniversary, of the last person whose life got taken for his desire to live in freedom.  Chris Gueffroy died in a hail of gunfire as he attempted to flee across the Berlin Wall:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,605967,00.html#ref=rss
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Berlin paid tribute Thursday to the last person shot trying to cross the Berlin Wall. Chris Gueffroy died in a hail of bullets as he tried to flee East Germany on the night of Feb. 5-6, 1989. He was the last person to fall victim to the East German policy of shooting people trying to flee across the Berlin Wall — although more were to die trying to escape from East Germany before the borders were opened on Nov. 9, 1989. …

The young barman, who wanted to avoid his approaching military service, decided to try to escape after hearing from a border guard that the shoot-to-kill order had been revoked. Gueffroy and a friend set out to cross the border in the Treptow district of East Berlin. After getting through the first sets of barriers without any problems, the pair were spotted by guards. Gueffroy was hit by 10 bullets and died shortly afterward. His friend was seriously injured and seized by the guards.

East Germany’s ex-leaders always denied they had ordered soldiers to shoot people trying to flee across the Berlin Wall. However, documents which surfaced in 2007 proved without doubt that such an order did exist. “Don’t hesitate to use your weapon even when border breaches happen with women and children, which traitors have often exploited in the past,” reads an order dated Oct. 1, 1973.

More at the links.
Photo gallery. http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-39520.html#backToArticle=605967


"Chris Gueffroy was shot 10 times and killed by border guards when he tried to cross the Berlin Wall on the night of Feb. 5, 1989. The 20-year-old bartender was the last East German to be shot trying to cross the Wall."

RIP to all who wanted freedom yesterday. RIP to the victims today (N. Korea, Cuba, etc). I hope we all know and love what we have here and appreciate how precious our freedom's are.



« Last Edit: February 08, 2009, 08:20:33 PM by ReardenSteel »
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http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=1826

Offline Eupher

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Re: Twenty years since the last Berlin Wall victim
« Reply #1 on: February 08, 2009, 10:33:43 PM »
I kind of alluded to him (though didn't know his name) in the attached article I wrote some years ago.



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Offline ReardenSteel

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Re: Twenty years since the last Berlin Wall victim
« Reply #2 on: February 08, 2009, 11:16:18 PM »
Quote from: Eupher on February 08, 2009, 10:33:43 PM
I kind of alluded to him (though didn't know his name) in the attached article I wrote some years ago.



That was a fantastic article. H5 and then some for your service and for sharing the memories.

A cool "wow" among many wow's from the article.  :cheersmate:
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Several years later I found out that an up-close video shot of me playing my instrument graced the opening scenes of a German documentary of Reunification.
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"When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion - when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors - when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you - when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - you may know that your society is doomed."

- Ayn Rand
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=1826

Offline Eupher

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Re: Twenty years since the last Berlin Wall victim
« Reply #3 on: February 09, 2009, 11:59:21 AM »
Quote from: ReardenSteel on February 08, 2009, 11:16:18 PM
That was a fantastic article. H5 and then some for your service and for sharing the memories.

A cool "wow" among many wow's from the article.  :cheersmate:

thanks, RS!
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Offline rich_t

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Re: Twenty years since the last Berlin Wall victim
« Reply #4 on: February 09, 2009, 03:55:14 PM »
I was stationed in Germany when the Wall came down.  I used to actually have a piece of it. (Ex-wife ended up with it after the divorce)
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Offline Eupher

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Re: Twenty years since the last Berlin Wall victim
« Reply #5 on: February 09, 2009, 04:23:45 PM »
Quote from: rich_t on February 09, 2009, 03:55:14 PM
I was stationed in Germany when the Wall came down.  I used to actually have a piece of it. (Ex-wife ended up with it after the divorce)

I had several chunks of it that I illegally hammered off the Wall (orders came down not to mess with it because it was East German property), but oh well. I did it anyway.  :-) (I think statute of limitations has run out on that one.)

I wound up giving all of them away. The only one I have now is mounted to a plaque that I was given when I left.

I'll post a pic or three later. I can't right now because of the freakin' firewall against Photobucket.  :banghead:
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