Get to West Berlin from the East?

Question

Before reunification, what was the best way to go to West Berlin from East Berlin without getting shot by border guards?

Answer 1

U-Bahnhof Friedrichstraße...people from the west could cross the border there...I also did it one time and it was a really strange experience! We got a lot of infos what to do and what not and I can remember that they checked my passport and me for about 10 minutes. Then I saw a comlete different town..

I visited Berlin again last year and couldn't see where the border was before...it all looks the same now.

There where other border crossings too but for tourists Friedrichstraße was the best:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_bord...

Answer 2

For the most people from the east there was no way to go to the west. When there was a way to leave east Germany (DDR) in 1989 all gyms in Germany  up to the Alsace (France) were completly full of eastern German refugees. At that time my government (Schleswig- Holstein) has send nurses to Mecklenburg for  too much of their nurses ran away. All I want to tell you is, there were very special ocassions when an easterner was allowed to go west -- eg if you were old, your parents died etc ( but you were not allowed to take your wife and your children with you).

Greetings from Hamburg, Germany

Heinz

ps: pelle is right: I had a some night stand with  a lady  from the east. She would leave GDR via Chech Republic. She was some years imprisoned in Bautzen up to the west paid for her freedom.

Answer 3

Only people from West Berlin and West Germany could go to the east and back. People from the east were not allowed to cross the wall until they were old-age pensioners. There were very few exceptions. People who tried to leave the GDR were thrown into jail there and their children were taken away from them.