Chapter 58

"These people, along with their families, amount to about five or six thousand. Our East Germany is already suffering from a severe population drain!" Marcus Wolf's meaning was clear; he actually wanted to keep these people. For the current East Germany, every person was precious. If possible, he naturally hoped to change these people and have them contribute to East Germany.

"Their presence will only continue to disrupt the construction of East Germany and win applause from foreign forces! Some public intellectuals have a natural sense of superiority, enjoying criticizing the country but lacking the ability to put it into practice! There isn't a single scientist among them, just a bunch of so-called social activists who can only survive by deceiving the people!" Suddenly, Yuri Andropov patted his German colleague on the shoulder and said, "You should be grateful. If the Soviet Union had such a window, I would have long ago sent the unstable Caucasians and Central Asians into it!"

Marcus Wolf, the head of foreign intelligence for the Stasi, was known as the "Man Without a Face" in later years, with countless legends surrounding him. The foreign intelligence bureau he commanded also had many legends. However, from Andropov's perspective, this man, who left a legendary legacy in the future, had not yet reached his ultimate form.

Andropov wanted to get out of the car and climb the observation tower to see the situation inside the Berlin Wall, but Marcus Wolf immediately held him back. This idea was clearly impulsive and not well thought out. "If you go up and get shot by a sniper, the Western Group won't avenge you. There are plenty of excuses in West Berlin to gloss over it!"

Marcus Wolf was right. If Andropov were assassinated, the Soviet Union would at most condemn it, as it would be impossible to determine who pulled the trigger from a distance. This was different from a month ago when Andropov stood openly on a tank. If he had been killed by a Sherman tank then, the Soviet Union could have stormed into West Berlin. But if he were assassinated now, it would be a pointless death.

"If you want to watch, I've already arranged a place for you!" Marcus Wolf pointed to a ten-story building to the right through the car window. This was an office building near the Berlin Wall in the city center. From the vantage point, it was high up, and with a low-magnification telescope, one could see all the details of the Berlin Wall clearly, without the blurriness of standing on the observation tower.

This group of five or six thousand people passed through six border crossings, queuing up under the watchful eyes of the armed internal security forces. They would hand over their identity documents from the East German government to enter West Berlin, the land of freedom they had longed for. At the same time, these people would be registered in the Stasi archives, ensuring they could never return to East Germany.

"Minions of the authoritarian government, inhumane secret police!" A tall, blond man in a long coat, wearing glasses, led his child and shouted at the internal security forces nearby. However, this pale-faced man seemed quite pleased, as he was finally leaving this place that felt oppressive.

The internal security soldier, wearing a helmet shaped like a bucket, rolled his eyes. The large helmet of East Germany obscured his view, but the slight curl of his lips showed his disdain. He wished this incessant talker would hurry up and leave.

"It's your turn!" A captain in a neat uniform relieved the soldier's disgust, calling the man who was about to head for freedom to register. He stamped the document without hesitation, marking the disappearance of one person from the list of East German citizens.

"Dad, can we come back home in the future?" The little boy, whose head barely reached his father's thigh, looked up and asked.

"Son, we will have a bigger house and a more comfortable environment in the future!" The man squatted down and held his child's face.

"Next!" The captain at the registration post suddenly called out. Although he was calling the next person to register, his gaze remained fixed on the man, as if he were looking at a pile of disgusting dog feces.

Since the barbed wire was first set up, there had been incidents of People's Army soldiers defecting. The security forces around the Berlin Wall were then replaced by a new batch of people. The soldiers responsible for screening, like those present now, were all hard-hearted individuals.

Yuri Andropov, standing not far away, was also aware of such an incident, but he did not take it seriously. From the development of the entire event, the defected soldier had already been recruited by West Berlin and made a dramatic leap for freedom in broad daylight. The pre-arranged journalists took the famous photo, and he was immediately taken into a waiting West Berlin police car, completing this grand propaganda show.

This could be deduced with basic investigation, and even Marcus Wolf had already discovered it through Stasi informants in West Berlin. Andropov knew more than anyone else: the defected People's Army soldier returned to his hometown after the reunification of Germany and was seen as a traitor, a spy for the people, and a lackey of imperialism by all his friends and hometown residents. He committed suicide at home before the turn of the 21st century, when Germany had already been reunified for nearly a decade.

The large iron gate was slowly pushed open by the internal security forces. After a few meters of isolation, the man holding his child would officially leave East Germany and become a member of the free world, able to criticize East Germany without fear of police interference.

At this moment, a few dozen meters away, a car stopped, and a brown-haired man was escorted out by two internal security police. The man, still struggling, said with a very sad expression, "Let me go, I am a citizen of East Germany, you can't do this! I am the people, the government can't treat the people like this..."

This situation drew the attention of over a hundred people waiting in line, even the blond man who was about to leave stopped, his eyes filled with confusion, as he recognized this man, who was his cellmate.

Soon, the two internal security police brought this man over to the captain and said, "Register this person first..."

"No, I am German, I am part of the people! I want to stay in my homeland!" The brown-haired man continued to struggle. One of the internal security police retrieved a suitcase from the car and took out his documents. The brown-haired man, with a burst of strength, knocked the police to the ground and shouted, "I assaulted a police officer, I should be detained for a month in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, arrest me quickly..."

"Schumann, are you crazy? Isn't this the opportunity we've always wanted?" The blond man looked at Schumann on the ground in disbelief.

"Achim? What are you doing here? You live in the city, you don't know, but a canal is being dug in the suburbs. The Spree and Havel rivers will be cut off, and anyone entering West Berlin will be trapped!" Schumann tightly hugged the leg of the internal security police.

"Ah!" After a brief silence, the orderly queue suddenly became agitated. Not many people knew the exact situation, but by sharing the information they knew, they could draw a similar conclusion.

"Hmm?" Andropov also noticed the commotion and, noticing that Marcus Wolf remained calm, turned his head and asked, "Did you arrange this? Which of the two is your Stasi agent..."

"Both!" Marcus Wolf answered calmly.

Page AD starts

Page AD ends