AP Television
August 13, 2007
1. Pan down of people gathered at the memorial of Bernauer Strasse (which is one of the streets which separates two Berlin's districts: Mitte in the East and Wedding in the West)
2. Close up of memorial wall (part of the original Berlin wall)
3. Wreathes at memorial wall
4. Various of people standing near Berlin wall
5. Close of Berlin wall
6. Marianne Birthler, Head of the Stasi archives speaking with reporters
7. SOUNDBITE (German) Marianne Birthler, Head of the Stasi archives:
"I know from the victims of the GDR (German Democratic Republic) regime that they want to have a clear statement about what was just and unjust. They want people to hear their stories.They want to make clear who carries the political responsibility for this crime. The degree of the penalty does not play such a big role."
8. Wide shot of Berlin wall
9. Various of gaps in the Berlin wall
10. SOUNDBITE (German) Guenter Nooke, German government representative for human rights:
"The document is not new, but I think it's good that people here in Germany are again disgusted about the GDR system. For most of the people it is not normal that the GDR gave orders to kill people, even women and children at the border. And I think it is a positive thing that people in Germany and the world hear this again or some of them for the first time."
11. People gathered around crosses reminding them of the wall victims
12. Close up of visitor
13. Close up cross
14. People paying their respects
15. Wide of crosses near German Parliament
16. SOUNDBITE (German) Richard Buchner, Member of the Association of the Victims of the Communist Regime:
"Twenty years later an order exists to kill women and children (referring to the discovery of the Stasi orders). This is incredible and I think there are legal consequences necessary. And if possible, people who are responsible for it have to be impeached for it. This is the opinion I can represent in the name of two million (m) victims of the SED (East German Socialist Party) regime."
17. Various of Berlin Wall
18. Pan from wall to wooden cross
NATO TV
FILE: 1961
19. Various construction of Berlin Wall (++black and white pictures++)
20. Various soldiers at wall
AP Television
FILE: 1971
21. Various of look out towers and barbed wire
FILE: 1989
22. Pan from Checkpoint Charlie to crowd at crossing point
FILE: November 9, 1989
23. People climbing over the wall
24. Crane beginning to dismantle the wall
25. Man using stone cutter to dismantle the wall
Germany marked the 46th anniversary of the construction of the Berlin Wall on Monday- a remembrance given added poignancy by the emergence from the files of East Germany's dreaded secret police of an unusually explicit order to shoot at citizens fleeing the communist country.
Though the official East German border regulations said use of a firearm was to be considered an "extreme measure in the use of force," the October 1,1973 order to border guards from the Ministry for State Security, or Stasi, is much less reserved, Magdeburg's Volksstimme newspaper reported on Saturday.
"Do not hesitate with the use of a firearm, including when the border breakouts involve women and children, which the traitors have already frequently taken advantage of," the order reads.
Marianne Birthler, Head of the Stasi archives said the documents showed a willingness to commit brutality that have rarely been seen otherwise.
She spoke at a memorial service for those who lost their lives as they attempted East Germany after the barrier was erected on August 13, 1961.
"I know from victims of the GDR (German Democratic Republic) regime that they want to have a clear statement about what was just and unjust. They want people to hear their stories.They want to make clear who carries the political responsibility for this crime," Birthler said.
Before the 1990 reunification of Germany, more than one thousand people were killed on the eastern side of the highly fortified border as they tried to escape to the West, including more than 125 at the Berlin Wall.
Some politicians on Monday pointed out that the document had already been published years ago, and criticised the Stasi archives for taking advantage of the Berlin Wall anniversary to call attention to their cause and alleged they were using the documents to justify their work.
However, the German government representative for human rights, Guenter Nooke, applauded the release of the documents saying that is is good to bring the world's attention to the "disgusting" regime of the GDR.
"For most of the people it is not normal that the GDR gave orders to kill people, even women and children at the border. And I think it is a positive thing that people in Germany and the world hear this again or some of them for the first time," he added.
Richard Buchner, Member of the Association of the Victims of the Communist Regime said that the fact that these documents were around 17 years after the fall of the Wall was "incredible" and said that legal action was required.
"If possible, people who are responsible for it have to be impeached for it. This is the opinion I can represent in the name of two million (m) victims of the SED (East German Socialist Party) regime," he told the Associated Press.
Germany had been divided after the end of World War II in 1945 into communist East Germany and democratic West Germany.
The Stasi, founded in the 1950s, had 91,000 full-time employees and 180,000 undercover informers.
They kept the population of 18 (m) million under blanket surveillance while the regime built the Berlin Wall and a border bristling with mines, barbed wire, dogs and self-activating machine guns.
After the Soviet Union collapsed, the border came down, the Stasi was disbanded and East and West Germany were united in 1990.
Hundreds of former East German border guards and officials have since been convicted for border shootings. Most received suspended sentences, though a few former leaders went to jail.
