Dear Tartiflette Fan,
26 years makes sense if you were in Soldiers uniform
and trying to swim part of the Baltic to reach the BRD.
My friend (not Mario) was doing his National service nr.
the Baltic sea, and with another soldier, tried to swim to
the BRD. He was caught, along with his comrade, who
had been shot, The injured boy died by "Drowning at the
scene" My friend was arrested for trying to cross a border,
but more seriously for desertion from the DDR army.
I put him on the Freikauf (ransom} through the Ministry
for Intra German Affairs in Bonn and West Berlin. They
agreed to pay the $19000. for his eventual release. He
was represented by Dieter Starkulla, one of the Lawyers
in the Wolfgang Vogel, Starkulla , and Hartmann East
German lawyers office. I had access by phone to the
Lawyers office, and was told we had to stay in jail for
some time, before they would allow to deal to go through.
He was locked up in the Prison in Neubrandenburg, and
forced to work producing electronics for Olivetti electric
typewriters to be sold in the West. He was eventually
released in 1990., and sent to Duesseldorf, where he
was accommodated on a Rhine Ship. He still lives in
Duesseldorf. The $19000. was not paid by the West
German Government due to the wall falling. The second
to last fatality at the wall, just before it fell was Chris
Guefroy, He worked with Mario as waiter at the restaurant
at SXF.
Lance Shippey.