1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:02,000 Speaker 1: The Stay in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:09,879 Speaker 1: Heart Radio, Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:13,600 Speaker 1: a show that honors the dead by sharing their stories 4 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:17,640 Speaker 1: with the living. I'm Gabe Lousier, and in this episode, 5 00:00:17,880 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 1: were reflecting on one of the most barbaric incidents of 6 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:24,040 Speaker 1: the Cold War, the day when a young man lost 7 00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:27,000 Speaker 1: his life in a desperate bid for freedom while the 8 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:30,840 Speaker 1: eyes of a divided Germany watched in horror. As you 9 00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:35,199 Speaker 1: might imagine, today's episode includes descriptions of human suffering and 10 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:45,000 Speaker 1: maybe too upsetting for some listeners. The day was August seventeenth, 11 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:50,280 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty two. Eighteen year old Peter Fester was gunned 12 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:53,640 Speaker 1: down by East German border guards while attempting to climb 13 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:57,680 Speaker 1: over the Berlin Wall. He was shot multiple times, but 14 00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:01,080 Speaker 1: remained alive for nearly an hour, lying at the base 15 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:04,800 Speaker 1: of the wall that separated East and West Berlin. The 16 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:08,640 Speaker 1: guards didn't apprehend Peter, nor did they offer him any 17 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:12,840 Speaker 1: medical assistance. Instead, they left in there to bleed to 18 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:16,480 Speaker 1: death in plain view of the gathering crowds on both 19 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:20,560 Speaker 1: sides of the wall. The genesis of the Berlin Wall 20 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:23,920 Speaker 1: came shortly after the end of World War two, when 21 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:27,640 Speaker 1: the decision was made to split Germany into two separate countries. 22 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:31,680 Speaker 1: The Soviets took the eastern half, known as the German 23 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 1: Democratic Republic or g DR, and the United States, Britain, 24 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:39,200 Speaker 1: and France each took a piece of the western half, 25 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:43,679 Speaker 1: the Federal Republic of Germany. The city of Berlin was 26 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:48,080 Speaker 1: located entirely within Soviet borders, but since it was Germany's 27 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:52,040 Speaker 1: long time capital and largest city, a compromise was reached, 28 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 1: and it too was divided into an East and west. 29 00:01:56,120 --> 00:02:00,320 Speaker 1: As time wore on, more and more citizens began sing 30 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:03,920 Speaker 1: the communist g DR in favor of the Federal Republic, 31 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:08,240 Speaker 1: where people were freer and wages were higher. By nineteen 32 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 1: sixty one, East Germany had lost so many young professionals 33 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:15,400 Speaker 1: that its economy was on the brink of collapse. To 34 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:19,280 Speaker 1: stop the bleeding, officials decided to erect a wall between 35 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:23,240 Speaker 1: the two halves of Berlin. In that way, the resulting 36 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:27,239 Speaker 1: wall was unlike the border fortifications of most other countries. 37 00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:31,639 Speaker 1: Its primary function wasn't to keep invaders from getting in. 38 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:34,840 Speaker 1: It was to keep its own people from getting out. 39 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:39,959 Speaker 1: Construction on the Berlin Wall began on August thirteenth, nineteen 40 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:44,040 Speaker 1: sixty one, one year and four days before the murder 41 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:47,680 Speaker 1: of Peter Fester. Plans for the wall were not made 42 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:50,760 Speaker 1: public ahead of time, and no warning was given when 43 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:54,919 Speaker 1: East German soldiers began stringing barbed wire across the boundary 44 00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: line between East and West Berlin. A wall of concrete 45 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:02,480 Speaker 1: blocks took ape over the next few days, then in 46 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:06,120 Speaker 1: the months that followed, guard towers were added, along with 47 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:12,079 Speaker 1: machine guns, searchlights, trained dogs, barricades and land mines. Eventually, 48 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:16,840 Speaker 1: more barbed wire was strung along hastily erected posts, increasing 49 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:21,079 Speaker 1: the barrier to approximately ninety six miles in length. When 50 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:24,239 Speaker 1: it was finished, the Berlin Wall snaked its way through 51 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:27,800 Speaker 1: the city and the surrounding countryside, sealing off the only 52 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:31,040 Speaker 1: exit from East Berlin for the next twenty eight years. 53 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:36,560 Speaker 1: To discourage escape attempts, East German authorities established a thirty 54 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:39,320 Speaker 1: to a hundred and fifty meter wide stretch of land 55 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 1: known as the Death Strip. It ran parallel with the 56 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:45,480 Speaker 1: length of the wall and was host to a variety 57 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:50,800 Speaker 1: of deadly deterrents, including buried mines, electrified fencing, and beds 58 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:55,880 Speaker 1: of nails. Nicknamed Stalin's Lawn, If those measures failed to 59 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:58,920 Speaker 1: stop a would be defector, the guards and the watch 60 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 1: towers were ordered to shoot them on site. Even with 61 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:06,120 Speaker 1: the odds stacked against them, the desire for freedom led 62 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:09,040 Speaker 1: thousands of East Berliner's to try their luck in the 63 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:13,520 Speaker 1: Death Strip. On August seventeenth, nineteen sixty two, it was 64 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:17,960 Speaker 1: Peter Fester's turn. He and a fellow bricklayer named Helmet 65 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:21,800 Speaker 1: cool Bike hid themselves in a carpenter's workshop near the wall. 66 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:25,160 Speaker 1: They waited for the guards to look away, and then 67 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:28,320 Speaker 1: they leapt from a second story window right into the 68 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:31,599 Speaker 1: Death Strip. From there, they made a mad dash to 69 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:34,839 Speaker 1: the Berlin Wall. As the guards took notice and immediately 70 00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:38,520 Speaker 1: opened fire. Helmet managed to scale the six and a 71 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:42,640 Speaker 1: half foot barrier and crossed safely into West Berlin. His 72 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 1: friend Peter wasn't so lucky. He was shot in the pelvis, 73 00:04:47,279 --> 00:04:50,039 Speaker 1: but somehow managed to stand back up and run the 74 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:52,520 Speaker 1: rest of the way to the wall. As he started 75 00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:56,400 Speaker 1: to climb, though, more shots rang out. Peter was hit 76 00:04:56,480 --> 00:04:59,080 Speaker 1: in the back and the stomach, causing him to fall 77 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:02,680 Speaker 1: backwards off the all straight into the Death Strip. His 78 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:06,360 Speaker 1: clothes were soaked with blood and he screamed for someone, 79 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:10,679 Speaker 1: anyone to help him. Some people in West Berlin tried 80 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:14,480 Speaker 1: to throw him bandages, but he couldn't move to reach them. 81 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:19,000 Speaker 1: There were also West German police and US soldiers stationed nearby, 82 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:21,640 Speaker 1: but they were forbidden to intervene on the East German 83 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:25,880 Speaker 1: side of the border. Finally, after an hour of watching 84 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:29,039 Speaker 1: a young man slowly die in the street, the East 85 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:33,960 Speaker 1: German border guards dragged Peter's lifeless body away. Hundreds of 86 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:37,280 Speaker 1: West Berliner's remained at the wall for hours, and by 87 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:41,440 Speaker 1: evening their numbers had swelled the several thousand. They called 88 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:44,680 Speaker 1: for the wall to be torn down and shouted murderers 89 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:47,919 Speaker 1: at the three East Berlin guards who stood along the top. 90 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:52,880 Speaker 1: East German police eventually responded by throwing tear gas grenades 91 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:56,400 Speaker 1: from a window that overlooked the irate crowd. The West 92 00:05:56,440 --> 00:06:00,159 Speaker 1: Berliners were forced to disperse, but they returned later to 93 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:03,400 Speaker 1: erect a wooden cross at the site. This was later 94 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:07,760 Speaker 1: replaced by a steel memorial, which still stands to this day. 95 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:11,160 Speaker 1: The inscription spells out the cause that Peter died for 96 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:15,599 Speaker 1: the crime for which he was killed. It reads, he 97 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:21,880 Speaker 1: just wanted freedom. In eight years after the Berlin Wall 98 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:25,680 Speaker 1: finally fell. Two of the East German guards who killed 99 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:30,000 Speaker 1: Peter Fester were found guilty of manslaughter. They were each 100 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:32,680 Speaker 1: sentenced to a little over a year and a half 101 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:36,560 Speaker 1: in prison, but in the end both sentences were commuted 102 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:40,719 Speaker 1: to mere probation. As for the third guard who fired 103 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:44,320 Speaker 1: on Peter, he had already died before the charges were brought. 104 00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:49,440 Speaker 1: Peter Fester was the twenty seven refugee killed while attempting 105 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:53,560 Speaker 1: to escape from East Berlin. Sadly, he was far from 106 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:57,479 Speaker 1: the last. While the true death tolls still remains unknown, 107 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:01,240 Speaker 1: a German research group has confirmed at least a hundred 108 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:04,200 Speaker 1: and thirty eight people died attempting to cross the wall. 109 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:08,400 Speaker 1: Some estimates put the number much higher, at two hundred 110 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:12,360 Speaker 1: and fifty four people or more. Whatever their true number, 111 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:16,840 Speaker 1: may they all rest in peace. The story of Peter Fester, 112 00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:20,320 Speaker 1: and of so many others, is a reminder that the 113 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:23,600 Speaker 1: more walls we build to divide ourselves, the more like 114 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:27,280 Speaker 1: a prison our world becomes. So good riddance to the 115 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:30,200 Speaker 1: Berlin Wall and to the killers who stood a topic 116 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:34,679 Speaker 1: denying freedom to the desperate. The world is better off 117 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:45,640 Speaker 1: without them. That I can't describe really my feelings with 118 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:59,440 Speaker 1: something unreal for me. I'm Gabe Lousier and hopefully you 119 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:02,400 Speaker 1: now know a little more about history today than you 120 00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:06,120 Speaker 1: did yesterday. You can learn even more about history by 121 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:09,600 Speaker 1: following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t D 122 00:08:09,800 --> 00:08:14,160 Speaker 1: i HC Show, and if you have any comments or suggestions, 123 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:16,880 Speaker 1: feel free to send them to me at this Day 124 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:20,679 Speaker 1: at I heart media dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays 125 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:23,360 Speaker 1: for producing the show, and thanks to you for listening. 126 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:26,880 Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day 127 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:28,240 Speaker 1: in history class.