CONTINUED TO OPERATE IT AFTER THE WALL CAME DOWN.
WE WENT BACK TO TAKE A LOOK
INSIDE THAT PRISON.
>> Reporter: THIS IS THE
INFAMOUS PRISON IN EAST GERMANY.
IT’S WHERE THEY PUT POLITICAL
PRISONERS IN THIS COUNTRY.
IN EFFECT, GERMANS WERE
IMPRISONING OTHER GERMANS
BECAUSE THEY WERE RESISTING
COMMUNIST RULE AND THIS PLACE IS
STILL GOING WHEN THE WALL CAME
DOWN.
DOWN. IT WAS FOR PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN
THIS COUNTRY A SIGHT OF GREAT
HORROR BECAUSE THEY KNEW IF THEY
TRIED TO ESCAPE OR IF THEY
PUSHED BACK AGAINST THE REGIME,
THIS IS WHERE THEY’D END UP.
NOW IT’S JUST ABANDONED BUT
THEY’RE GOING TO KEEP IT AS AN
EXAMPLE OF WHAT HAPPENS WHEN
THERE IS POLITICAL TYRANNY IN
ONE COUNTRY HOWEVER IT MAY BE
DIVIDED BY OTHER COUNTRIES.
>> IT WAS SOMETHING OF A RUMOR.
EVERYONE WAS FRIGHTENED BUT
NOBODY KNEW WHAT IT WAS.
>> Reporter: YOU WERE CAUGHT
TRYING TO ESCAPE TO ZEK LOW
CZECHOSLOVAKIA.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA. AT THE TIME THEY CAUGHT YOU,
WERE YOU FRIGHTENED?
>> IT ALL STARTED BECAUSE THEY
ASKED IF I COULD SHOW MY RETURN
TICKET.
TICKET. MY PLAN WAS TO GO TO
CZECHOSLOVAKIA AND NEVER RETURN
TO EAST GERMANY.
THEY CALLED THE POLICE.
THE POLICE CAME TO THE TRAIN.
THEY EVEN CALLED THE MILITARY
POLICE.
POLICE. THEN I STARTED PANICKING.
THEN THEY PICKED ME UP FROM THE
TRAIN, TOOK ME IN A LITTLE HOUSE
AND STARTED QUESTIONING AND THE
ONLY QUESTION I HEARD IS, DO YOU
WANT TO LEAVE OUR QUESTION
LEGALLY?
LEGALLY? MY ANSWER WAS NO ALL THE TIME.
AFTER ALMOST 40 HOURS, WITHOUT
ENOUGH WATER TO DRINK, NO
OPPORTUNITY, I SAID, YES, I WANT
TO STAY AND I ENDED UP IN THE
STASI PRISON.
STASI PRISON. .
. >> Reporter: SO, THIS IS A CELL?
>> YES.
>> YES. AS YOU CAN SEE, YOU CAN ONLY
DISTINGUISH DAY AND NIGHT.
YOU CAN’T LOOK OUT.
THE GLASS REFLECTS THE VIEW OUT.
THERE WERE NO OPPORTUNITIES TO
WORK OR TO DO SOMETHING.
JUST LAID THE WHOLE DAY.
YOU WERE NOT ALLOWED TO LIE ON
THE BED.
THE BED. YOU HAD TO FOLD THE MATTRESSES
AND THE COVER AND EVERYTHING UP
AND YOU WERE ALLOWED TO TAKE A
SEAT OR TO STAND.
SO, YOU COULD TAKE A SEAT THERE.
YOU COULD SIT ON THE BED.
YOU COULD STAND IN THE CELL.
YOU COULD MOVE AROUND, YOU COULD
WALK.
WALK. AT NIGHTTIME YOU WERE FORCED TO
LIE ON THE BED.
FACING THE CEILING.
AND HANDS OR ARMS ON THE COVER.
THAT WAS THE SLEEPING POSITION.
>> Reporter: THEY WERE DANGEROUS
TO THE STATE BUT THEY WERE NOT
DANGEROUS PEOPLE IN A LOT OF
WAYS, WERE THEY?
>> NO, I DON’T THINK --
>> Reporter: THEY WERE NOT
VIOLENT PEOPLE.
VIOLENT PEOPLE. >> NO, NOT AT ALL.
>> Reporter: THEY WANTED TO
CHANGE THE SYSTEM.
THEY WANTED TO PROVE THE SYSTEM.
SO ANYTHING WAS ASSUMED BEING
AGAINST THE STATE, YOU KNOW.
TODAY WE ARE ALL LIVING IN A
DEMOCRACY BUT DEMOCRACY IS A
WEAK LITTLE FLOWER, SO TO SAY.
YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO LET YOUNG
PEOPLE KNOW WHAT IT MEANS NOT TO
LIVE IN A DEMOCRACY.
YEAH, TO DEFEND THE DEMOCRACY,
YOU NEED TO DO SOMETHING.
AND I GUESS TO SEE WHAT HAPPENED
IN DICTATORSHIP, FROM MY POINT
OF VIEW, WAS A WAY TO LET THEM
THINK AND I HOPE THEY APPRECIATE