Rusted Sky

Some are designed to keep people out. Some are designed to keep people in.

FOXNews.com - East German Border Guards Had 'Shoot-to-Kill' Orders to Stop Defections to West - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News

BERLIN — Researchers have discovered a Cold War “shoot-to-kill” order in what amounts to the clearest evidence yet that East German troops were given a licence to fire on people fleeing to the West, the Times of London reported.

The written order, issued to Stasi secret service agents, states: “Don’t hesitate to use your weapon even when border breaches happen with women and children, which traitors have often exploited in the past.”

It was found by a researcher in a regional archive of Stasi documents in the city of Magdeburg. The existence of a shoot-to-kill policy has long been assumed, given that more than 1,100 people were killed trying to flee East Germany. Most were shot trying to cross the Berlin Wall and the border between East and West Germany between 1961, when the frontier was sealed with the construction of the Wall, and November 1989, when it fell.

The Berlin Wall? That was designed to keep people in. The US Border wall in the SW? The Iron Curtain? Designed to keep information out of the USSR.

You ever wonder why, if things were so wonderful there, it was necessary to have a wall keeping people IN? Cuba's got a wall too - only not a visible, tangible one.

If you ever wonder whether a country is repressive - see which way the people are going. For all the faults the US has, people try like hell to get here - legally or illegally. For all the supposed 'virtues' that NK or Cuba has, you don't see many people attempting to immigrate there.

Just a thought - but one that seems to be lost on a whole lot of folks who still seem very much in love with totalitarian regimes.

J.