The five-year-long research by Berlin’s Free University reveals that 327 people died at internal German borders between former East and West Germany. The 327 victims came from both East and West Germany, and the vast majority (80 percent) were younger than 35 years old. “These borders were, if cynicism is allowed, even more brutal than the Berlin Wall,” said project leader Prof. Klaus Schroeder. The Berlin Wall Museum at Checkpoint Charlie last year announced their own estimate to be as high as 1,800 deaths, which Staadt contested. “If people are seeking freedom and self-determination,” said Staadt, “they will not be stopped by walls or barbed wire.”SEE ALSO: Ten things you never knew about socialist East Germany

Source: The Local June 08, 2017 12:45 UTC