My elementary school showed the Disney movie about this at least once a year.
East Germany balloon escape
11–20 of 324 posts
Re: East Germany balloon escape
#12Disney made a movie about this called Night Crossing in the early 1980s. More recently, there's a 2018 German movie about it called Balloon. [0] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082810/ [1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7125774
The 2018 film is a really good movie, I would highly recommend checking it out!
Re: East Germany balloon escape
#13>The family members included:
> Peter Strelzyk, aged 37
> Doris Strelzyk
> Frank Strelzyk, aged 15
> Andreas Strelzyk, aged 11
> Günter Wetzel, aged 24
> Petra Wetzel
> Peter Wetzel, aged 5
> Andreas Wetzel, aged 2
Was/is it common practice to omit the ages of adult women in Germany?
Re: East Germany balloon escape
#14Disney made a movie about this called Night Crossing in the early 1980s. More recently, there's a 2018 German movie about it called Balloon. [0] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082810/ [1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7125774
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Re: East Germany balloon escape
#15> East Germany immediately increased border security, closed all small airports close to the border, and ordered the planes kept farther inland.[6] Propane gas tanks became registered products, and large quantities of fabric suitable for balloon construction could no longer be purchased. Mail from East Germany to the two escaped families was prohibited.[12]
> Erich Strelzyk learned of his brother's escape on the ZDF news and was arrested in his Potsdam apartment three hours after the landing. The arrest of family members was standard procedure to deter others from attempting escape. He was charged with "aiding and abetting escape", as were Strelzyk's sister Maria and her husband, who were sentenced to 2½ years. The three were eventually released with the help of Amnesty International.
People - here in Germany as well as abroad - forget too easily what a sinister but also ridiculous state the GDR was.
Authoritarians everywhere belong on the dustpile of history.
Re: East Germany balloon escape
#16> East Germany immediately increased border security, closed all small airports close to the border, and ordered the planes kept farther inland.[6] Propane gas tanks became registered products, and large quantities of fabric suitable for balloon construction could no longer be purchased. Mail from East Germany to the two escaped families was prohibited.[12] > Erich Strelzyk learned of his brother's escape on the ZDF…
Dustpile of history, sure, but gallows first. Bleeding out on the pavement is also acceptable.
Way too often, connected ("powerful") people manage to escape proper punishment, sometimes in the name of a "peaceful transition of power".
Re: East Germany balloon escape
#17In Eastern Europe in 1979, those were big sums of money. What an extraordinary story
Re: East Germany balloon escape
#18In Eastern Europe in 1979, those were big sums of money. What an extraordinary story
Yeah I'd be curious into how they acquired so much money
Re: East Germany balloon escape
#19>The family members included: > Peter Strelzyk, aged 37 > Doris Strelzyk > Frank Strelzyk, aged 15 > Andreas Strelzyk, aged 11 > Günter Wetzel, aged 24 > Petra Wetzel > Peter Wetzel, aged 5 > Andreas Wetzel, aged 2 Was/is it common practice to omit the ages of adult women in Germany?
Not as of my knowledge. Coincidence I suppose, or desire by them to keep it private.
Re: East Germany balloon escape
#20One good metric of quality of life (which includes various freedoms) is how many people emigrate or immigrate.
Anybody who defends authoritarians has to explain why so many people want to leave and why the regime wants to keep them in. (With some exceptions such as China which weaponizes emigrants by threatening their families.)