ABSTRACT
The Berlin Wall sliced through lives just as it cut through the city. Students of the Free University were afraid for the safety of their friends who lived in East Berlin. Many of the East German students who studied at the Free University were in favor of a democratic society that allowed freedoms like voting. The government assigned Stasi police to spy on the East Germans and often arrested and jailed them for crimes against the government. Once Viegel was sure that the student was not a spy or someone who had been “turned” by the Stasi, he could give them information about the plans for escape to the west. Once Viegel had delivered the information, he returned to West Berlin by showing his passport at the gate. Viegel reported back to Detlef Girrmann and his partners, and they went to work. The leaders of East Germany accused the Girrmann Group of being terrorist “saboteurs” and enemies of the state.
