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Article: Fleeing East Germans No Longer Being Shot; West Sees Evidence of Changed Policy
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- December 9, 1987
- Author:
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East Germany has ordered its guards at the Berlin Wall and the
West German border to stop shooting civilians trying to flee to the
West, West German officials and western diplomats say.
Several former East German frontier guards, who have crossed the
heavily fortified border illegally to live in the West, have said
that their superiors told them in recent months to use firearms only
in self-defense, or if a soldier or policeman is trying to flee,
according to the western officials.
East German chief of state Erich Honecker indirectly confirmed
the reports at a meeting here with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State
John C. Whitehead on Nov. 11.
The shift in policy, if it continues, would remove ...