Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain

In the biography I wrote about my life in former East-Berlin.In 1976 and early 1977 my ex husband  had written 11 petitions to leave East-Berlin. We both had enough from the dictator state. We were sending letters to the Human Right Organization. Our petitions were rejected by the City Hall District without a reason. The ministry for state security short for Stasi had threatened us .We both thought a good escape plan was to kidnap a person with a car on the freeway. Inside the car we threatened the Diplomat with a knife and an explosive dummy. My ex-husband  and I wanted from the Diplomat to drive us over the Border to West-Germany. We tried to kidnap the 2 secretary from the Cuban Embassy in former East-Berlin. He got scared and stopped the car. The Diplomat wanted to see our identity cards. We had our personal things in a plastic bag. The Diplomat was holding on to the bag. The bag got broken; everything was falling on the ground. We tried to pick up our personal things from the ground. The Diplomat was screaming at us to leave everything behind. Afterwards we went back to our apartment. In the same night we both got arrested by the Stasi. We were 7 months in the Stasi remand prison in Berlin Pankow. The political inmates were mentally and physically tortured. I was interrogated 8 to 12 hours 5 days a week by the Stasi. In the small prison cell I was alone for weeks. Each night we had to sleep by a very strict sleeping code. Every 10  minutes the Stasi guards had checked the cells. It was for me almost impossible to sleep. I was 8 days in an arrest cell in the cellar. The first 3 days I had nothing to eat and no water to drink. After our trial I received 5 years and 6 months prison time. My ex husband received 7 years. I had to serve my prison time in the former women prison Hoheneck. In the prison we had to live by strictly military rules and regulation.I wrote my story for the former political prisoners,who are still suffering today.