Friendship at the East-West Berlin border.
Fifty years ago this month, the Berlin Wall was built, separating East and West Berlin.
August 17, 1962 - Peter Fechter is killed trying to cross the Berlin Wall.
One year after the construction of the Berlin Wall, Peter Fechter was killed by East German border guards.
The original caption:
The Death of A Refugee
Shot in the back while trying to escape over the Berlin Wall, Peter Fechter, 18, lay suffering for more than an hour while the Communist border guards who had fatally wounded him looked on impassively. Marks in the sand were made from Fechter’s bloody hand as the boy writhed in pain and called for help.
August 1961 - Creating the “Dead Zone” at the Berlin Wall
Making the Impossible Decision
On August 12, 1961, immediately before the construction of the Berlin Wall this couple makes the decision to pass their son over barbed wire to West Berlin.
The original caption:
A German fate at the fence of barbed wire!
It may be that a couple from Berlin will never see each other again because it became separated by the drawing of the line across Berlin. On August 12, one day before Ulbricht had ordered to surround West Berlin with barbed wire, a man was flying into West Berlin. His wife should follow him a few days later as the little son was still in a holiday-camp. In the meantime the nearly impenetrable “iron curtain” was drawn around West Berlin. The couple met at the fence of barbed wire. The “Vopo” guard was indulgent and allowed the meeting. The couple discussed their situation and they decided that the little son shall grow up in freedom. At a moment when the “Vopo” did not watch them the mother handed the child over the barbed wire.
