On the Internet, publications about life in divided Berlin often use a photograph showing a woman who has just crossed the dividing line and West Berlin police officers holding back law enforcement officers from the GDR. We have checked the correctness of such posts.
On November 9, 2024, Germany celebrated the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which until 1989 divided the city into two parts. Barrage started building in August 1961, to avoid further exodus of residents of the communist GDR to West Berlin. First, border guards placed barbed wire on the border and organized a checkpoint, and in subsequent months the wall itself appeared. During this period, residents of the eastern part of the city tried to cross the border in every possible way: they jumped out of the windows of houses adjacent to the dividing strip, climbed over the barbed wire, and broke through checkpoints. It is alleged that the photograph dates back to this time. “In an old little-known photograph there is a girl fallen to her knees. She had just managed to cross the border between East and West Berlin. Another second and she probably would have been shot... But she made it in time. Soldiers on both sides point their guns at each other. There’s just a drawn line between them,” described Russian journalist and human rights activist Eva Merkacheva used this photo in her Facebook post in 2014. In 2024 fast blogger Andrey Smetanenko with this photo and a similar description was viewed on X by 340,000 people, and shared by more than 500 users. This photo is also presented as real by users LiveJournal And "VKontakte"
From August to December 1961, 12 Berliners died trying to escape to the West. In total, during the existence of the wall such was 101, most were shot. Another 31 people were killed despite not planning to illegally cross the wall, and eight GDR border guards died in the line of duty. The total number of victims caused by the existence of the wall is still unknown - according to German historians, it exceeds several hundred people.
A reverse Google image search leads to the original source - a photo from the Getty Images photo database. IN description it is indicated that this is a still from the film "East Zone, West Zone"directed by Piero Vivarelli, filmed in 1962.
The original title of the film is "Today in Berlin"(Oggi a Berlino). The girl kneeling is an actress Nana Osten, performer of the main female role. You can find other footage from this episode in the Getty Images database: at one of the photos Austen's heroine hugs her lover Hans (played by Helmut Griem), who has just fled East Berlin.
The film was shot the year after the construction of the Berlin Wall began. In general, it reflects real events: the flight of the inhabitants of the GDR to the West, the brutality of the East German police, the construction of the barrier that divided the city. However, this is a work of fiction, not documentary footage. Therefore, it cannot be said that this is a photograph of a real escape from East Berlin. In addition, the frame itself is taken out of context. According to the plot of the film, Hans runs across the border, and his girlfriend Rita lives in West Berlin. Hans is shot in the back, and Rita is on her knees, mourning her lover. From the caption to the image in the Getty Images database it follows that according to the plot, West German police at that moment do not allow GDR law enforcement officers to take the body.
Cover photo: social networks / Getty Images
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