Hi, I am Sig (junge1),
I was born in Dominikus- Krankenhaus in Berlin-Hermsdorf, Bezirk Reinickendorf in December 1939. Bezirk Reinickendorf was one of 20 Bezirke that made up Gross-Berlin before World War II and one of 12 Bezirke that made up former West-Berlin, the other 8 Bezirke were Russian occupied and became East-Berlin after the war. Moved from Berlin to Neurohlau (Nova Role) Sudetenland (now Czech Republic), in August 1943 (our entire block of apartment buildings was bombed out in November 1943) and returned back to Berlin in November 1945. Saw my dad the first time in my life in August/September 1946 after he returned from POW camp. Attended elementary school in Berlin-Waidmannslust, high school in Berlin-Hermsdorf, and trade school in Berlin-Kreuzberg. Was an apprentice for the trade of Klischeeaetzer (photo engraver) at Burrath & Schmidt on Friedrichstrasse between U-Bahnhof Kochstrasse (near to what later became Checkpoint Charlie) and Hallisches Tor.
While watching Allied planes supplying West-Berlin by air during the Berliner Luftbruecke in 1948-49 I developed my love for aircraft. I guess I could be considered a 'Berliner Grosschnauze", or at least I used to be.
'Wanderlust' led me to leave Berlin in summer 1960 to emigrate to Toronto, Canada and in February 1962 to move from Canada to New York City, NY, USA. In January 1963 I joined the United States Air Force, one step ahead of Uncle Sam drafting me. Became a United States citizen within 7 weeks after it became a security issue because of my military career. One day after I was sworn in as a citizen in Seattle, my entire unit left for Southeast Asia in June 1966. After nearly 5 years of active duty (extended 11 months to make it an 18 months overseas deployment) I got discharged and moved to New York City. In 1973 I moved to Phoenix, Arizona and two years later joined the Arizona Air National Guard.
Received my higher education at Arizona State University and the University of Georgia and worked for 22 years for the Arizona Department of Water Resources in various capacities. Upon military retirement in 1999 and State retirement in 2005 I looked at a number of things to keep me occupied. Traveling and joining 'renderosity' in September 2007 were a couple of them,
Sig..
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Comments (38)
flavia49
impressive photo!! Sandra and I were in East Berlin in 1969, and we took some photos. I'll try to dig them out
shadownet
Great photo!
MagikUnicorn
Les tours de la Honte :) Great idea!
bmac62
Imagine being an East German Guard at that time. They were probably under all kinds of dire threats if anybody violated no-man's land. Good view. Thanks for posting.
Faemike55
Fantastic shot and story behind it! Excellent work!
annie5
Fantastic capture..Thanks for sharing this photo! :)
orig_buggy
wow..that would be unnerving!!
MrsLubner
Everything about the Cold War was unnerving. A tense time for everyone of all ages. This is unnerving to me just looking at it. Too many things are remembered. But at least we are past all that now...right????
duncanoooo
Cool, yet freaky.
PSDuck
Unnerving? I had a friend in 3rd Mech do the same as you, and got a machine gun pointed back at him! That was in the early '70s.
thevolunteer
Glad I wasn't there. Actually, I had moved to Hawaii a few years before that. Thanks for the well wishes Sig. Aloha
JuliSonne
Dein Bild weckt Erinnerungen. Ich bin an dieser Grenze aufgewachsen und habe die Mauer gehaßt.Diese "Aussichts"Plattformen empfand ich als demütigend gegenüber den Menschen im "Osten". Es war, als ob man "Tiere im Zoo" betrachtet. Auf der anderen Seite waren diese Plattformen Orte, wo man Verwandte und Bekannte sehen konnte - wenn auch nur aus der Ferne. Es gibt viele Geschichten darüber. Dein Foto ist deutsch-deutsche Geschichte. Sehr gut. Danke. Herzliche Grüße aus Berlin JuliSonne
Alex_Antonov
Beautiful work!
lizzibell
Beautiful work...
anitalee
Nice photo
timtripp
fantastic sig!
auntietk
That IS kind of creepy to think about, that he was looking back at you. Great image of days (thankfully) gone by!
renecyberdoc
yeah they did not f.. around the buggers.but then the whole people where indoctrinated.
Sylvia
~Great~ Shot & so Evocative... FABULOUS!!!
kgb224
Wonderful and scary capture my friend.
Umbetro38
excellent shot and Info my Friend
bazza
Nice capture and freaky photo isn't it strange how they had to keep people in.. the people cant have been to indoctrinated or liked the system of government if they where wanted to leave.. they were prisoners in their own country.. Only ones that liked it were the top pigs that were more equal than other pigs (animal farm)
erlandpil
Nice capture erland
aureagle
v. nice shot!
Richardphotos
the wall must have been terrifying to those seeking freedom
lucindawind
interesting info . .great shot
dbrv6
Excellent reminder and capture.
emmecielle
Interesting photo! :)
flora-crassella
so war es! Interessantes Foto!
jocko500
wonder how they looked. cool shot