Wednesday, October II,;
dncsday, October 11,2000
Page 3
6 H^Aew
Survivors of divided Germany share their tales of tragedy and triumph in a war-torn nation
Jews in Brief-
o arrested in
arm/drug ra«
istina Shockey, 18, a|
Veller, 22, were arrested-; :
partment at 3031 Texas:!
#12, when officers I
ed to a report of a disti
involving firearms,
lege Station Police Dep?|
tfficers were arriving or;
as a maroon ChevroletS:!
was leaving, accordingtcf
r elease.
officers stopped ^
ed the pickup, findingcff
>tol, 3/4 of a pound off; Tlw Battalton
and 23 units of what hi The night of Nov. 9, 1989, Hildegard Boucsein was
t was MDMA (ecstasy, driving home from a party celebrating her new job when
ckey and Weller w she heard on the radio that people could travel freely be-
d with possession of it tween East and West Berlin. The Berlin Wall, which, for
oossession of a contra decades, had symbolized tyranny to so many people, was
nee and unlawfully cam tin down that night.
on. Weller was also airea “That night 1 saw the mayors of West Berlin and East
an outstanding warranter! in cut out a piece of the wall together,” Boucsein said,
o serve jail time onaciBfijs is probably the greatest thing that has happened to
spass charge. L j n m y life.”
D later received a call 1 Boucsein was a speaker at a forum held Monday night
l that three people we* t |-, e international Center of the George Bush Presi-
masks with shotguns LjB rar y Complex as a part of German Week,
ra" apartmi'nt in forep 'rj ie f orum focused on compared experiences of
e. The CSPD release w j 10 |j ve( j j n democratic West Germany and
>( 'opie a egec V too m'ialist East Germany before the country’s reunifi-
mined amount of C ashb|i 0ninl988
jng in a van - ■ | n 193^ Boucsein was chief of staff for the mayor in
J®est Berlin. Boucsein said that Berlin was a heavily mil-
[ ^ (( itarized zone, but not
-7—^—: tt T*cure against terror- —
ContinuedfromPl^p 3^ sa j c j j t was b a
i on-campus tours, sically a playground
twever, will be heldinkfL- foreign intelli-
THE BATTALION
their neighborhoods and made short visits to the other
side.”
Boucsein is currently the undersecretary of federal and
European affairs for the State of Berlin and a member of
the International Advisory Board at Texas A&M.
Boucsein said the situation in West Germany was a lot
like the current situation in Serbia.
“My friends tell me they can hear the bombs in Vien
na,” said Boucsein. “It’s a question of courage to give
those people and those countries a chance. This is the first
time in history to have a peaceful and united Europe and
I hope we have the courage to do it.”
Anke Finger, an assistant German
d Rudder Tower.
geuce agencies.
is a once-every-five-y* "Our
these are very iinpoi:phones were
o our campus,” WilliifLged by
e know that studenb ;\ieryone, not
1( T' just the Soviets, but also
ms said he hopes to (the Americans, French and British,”
t ggie football gamesocBoucsein said.
Mall shuttles during After the East German and
West German governments
veek, only one lot closf ified) the East German
ivenienee student p^capital was moved from
said. 1 he gravel lot n®| 0 nn to Berlin, resulting
ticulture/Forest Sa’ n ^ combination of two opposite
PA 97, will be closeu , 0c j a ] anc j econom i c systems,
Arpav.ng and will reir 3oucseinsaid
the Iollowing week, v »we were afraid that every-
iweyer, remain openio' )ne wou i d i eave East g er ]j n
ng during the conferencJ d g010 West Ber]in . Bouc .
sein said. “People stayed in
Germany, until age 7. She is writing a history of her par
ents' and relatives’ experiences in East Germany.
Finger said one of her duties as a child was to sit on
the window sill at her house and watch for the trucks that
delivered food to the store across the street.
“As soon as I saw the truck, I would shout to my
mother, and she would run across the street to buy
food,” said Finger.
M Youth organizations were considered an
A important part in the lives of all good little so-
® cialist children Finger said.
“I was in one called the Pio-
^ neers,” Finger said. “It was the
only way you could do anything
social, such as go to a concert or
go camping. Everything revolved
around the youth organizations. ... It
was suspicious if you didn't participate.”
Finger vividly remembers watching her mother
sit in the living room crying after receiving a
telegram that said Finger's father had escaped from
East Germany and was safely in West Germany.
“My father had a lot of
trouble dealing with a system
that was oppressive and
made him promote an
ideology that he
didn’t believe in,”
she said. “He had
to recruit students to
be in the army from the university
where he was a professor, and he had
to support the socialist state.”
Finger’s father escaped by swim
ming across Lubecker Bay, which he
had explored during*his time in the army.
Finger’s father began training by
swimming against the current. Her
mother watched out for people
watching while he trained, because
excessive swimming would look
suspicious.
He carefully observed the area
and discovered that only one of the
Hildegard Boucsein (right) and Anke Finger (left)
spoke Monday night about their experiences in East
Germany.
He escaped by going under a wire, figuring out the"
guard’s watch pattern, running through the spotlighted
area and scaling over a triple fence. He then ran across |
the beach and swam along the coast for three miles. Fin- •
ger’s father went to a police station and said he had just !
escaped from East Germany. They did not believe him ;
because nobody had ever escaped via that route before. >
This was an extremely dangerous place to escape. !
Only 20 percent of people who attempted escape were
successful. At least 189 people died trying to escape at 1
this point. The area was heavily patrolled by border ,
guards, Finger said. (
Near the border, there were snipers posted at the top 1
of watchtowers to search for escapees. Some people tried 1
to get on boat on international shipping lines and were ,
killed by the ship’s propellers. Many drowned or died of
exhaustion after swimming such a long distance.
Finger’s family was eventually allowed to leave East J
Germany to be with their father. The reason the family |
received travel permits is not certain, but it is most like- 1
ly because of the Helsinki Conference that urged the East
spotlights that illuminated the coast German government to allow families separated by the J
and the water moved. Finger said, border to reunite, Finger said. J
slam
mr life?
y ?
lues?
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