Germany: Man with a Suitcase

Blond, blue-eyed Bernd Schmidt was captured at the age of 18. That was three years ago, when he and some other West German teen-agers went to the Leipzig Sports Festival in Communist East Germany. One day, passing a stadium exit, Bernd Schmidt was caught in a throng of girls who came pouring from the field after a gymnastic display. Schmidt recalls: "Some were carrying their hoops high over their heads, others were rolling them. Suddenly, someone dropped a hoop over me. Everyone laughed."

Bernd Schmidt had been captured by Maria Hoelscher, an elfin girl with saucer-like brown eyes and a ponytail....

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