Fugitives from East Germany spilt their blood at the Berlin Wall. Artists in West Berlin covered it with paint. All were united in their hatred of this dividing line.

Reporter: Painting over the divide

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/14941431/M003-0008-EN.srt

On the night of 9 November,   I was at the restaurant.

Around midnight we noticed Trabis   in front of the door,

That's when we telephoned the radio   to find out what was going on.

Six adults drowned   whilst trying to cross the river.

Four children   from West Berlin drowned

when they fell   in the river while playing.

Since they fell on the East Berlin side,   people weren't allowed to help them.

They drowned in front of the firemen,   their parents and all the bystanders.

In the East, everyone dreamed of   crossing to the other side of the Wall,

It's a picture that travelled   around the world.

The border soldier Conrad Schumann fled   two days after the wall was built here,

showing that even those   securing the border with guns

In West Berlin I belonged to   one of the biggest escape organisations,

This group built underground   tunnel systems to East Berlin,

counterfeited passports   and converted cars.

In 6 years the group helped   950 people escape the GDR.

It's in 1984. You can see Kiddy with...   -With an air rifle.

Standing in front of the Wall and   painting it meant we were in East Berlin

because the Wall was built   about five metres from the actual border,

whose boundaries   were always marked with big signs

warning you that you were leaving   the American sector.

It's important as a damning reminder   of this separation.

It's a pictorial protest against   walls past and present,

be it in Korea, Mexico, America,   Palestine or Israel.

Walls still separate people everywhere.   They should all be painted away.

These paintings are a sort of alibi to say   to those who never knew that period:

"Look at the Wall. It wasn't any fun   living in a city divided by a wall."

"Above all else don't make   the same mistakes made by your elders."

"Look at the Wall.   It was truly shameful."