Berlin: The Gesture Was Hollow

Berlin will long remember a young East German named Peter Fechter who last summer tried to escape across the Wall and was shot down by the Red border cops. Wounded, he was left to bleed to death by the Communists, while U.S. soldiers, under strict instructions to avoid "incidents," were not allowed to cross a few feet into East Berlin and help the dying man. When a wave of disgust swept Germany, the Allies responded by a feeble gesture: they stationed an ambulance at Checkpoint Charlie in the U.S. sector to pick up...

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