An Interview of Peter by Jalen Bayani

Today, I will be talking to a university student who has made plans to escape from East Berlin. This is a BIG risk. For his safety and the safety of his family, he has asked that I call him by his first name only. Peter is his name, let's find out his story.

Jalen: What year did the Berlin Wall go up?

Peter:  The year, I believe, would be 1961.

Jalen: So, that’s four years now. And how did it make you feel when the wall went up?

Peter: Well, when the wall was built, I felt as if I was trapped inside a jail or in something I didn’t want to be in. That morning, a Sunday, I saw people standing near the wall with Stasi lined up with guns pointing at the innocent people of East Berlin.

Jalen: Wow. That must have felt so strange. So let's go to your big plan. Why do you plan to escape?

Peter: If I can get to West Berlin, I can find a way to have my family sneak over. I want to live a happier life.

Jalen: That is probably true for many people of East Berlin. So, how do you plan to escape?

Peter: Well, since there are vans that come into East Berlin from West Berlin, I thought I could sneak into a van.

Jalen: If you escape and get to West Berlin, what would you do?

Peter: I actually don't know what I'd do first, but I would probably find a job and a way to get my family to the West side.

Jalen: Really. And how long have you been planning for this escape?

Peter: Well, I have been planning this for…uh… actually there's not an exact moment when I began to think about this plan.

Jalen: Ok. Well, I think that's all for today. Thank you so much.

Peter: Thank you for having me.

Note: Shortly after this interview, it was learned that Peter was discovered hiding in a special compartment of a car that belonged to friends of his. These friends live in West Berlin and had traveled to East Berlin for a visit. Peter joined them on their return trip to the West. Unfortunately, Peter was executed on the spot by the Grenzers who found him during a search of the car. Peter will be remembered for his courage to live the life he wanted.

It was a dark and stormy night

When I was young, one of my favorite things to do was to tell stories in the dark with my siblings and the neighborhood kids during the long hot nights of summer. Like most kids in summer, we got bored. To keep things exciting, we would gather together after dinner and sit in a circle in one of my neighbor's back yards. Someone would sneak a flashlight from home, and under the dark of night we would do our best to scare one another by inventing outrageous stories around that circle. Aside from the stars, and the moon, and maybe the lights from our neighbor's back porch, the only light we had in that circle came from the flashlight, which we used to great and eerie effect. We would pass the flashlight around the circle, illuminating only our faces as we made our best effort at telling a frightful tale. Without fail, someone would begin her story with the words "It was a dark and stormy night."

Telling stories is as old as time. Think about it. When you come home from school, your mom and dad usually invite you to tell them a story when they ask, "So, how was school today?" We are always telling stories. When we finish a particularly good basketball game, we want to tell our friends what happened, even if those same friends were there playing the game with us. When we go on a trip, have a birthday, receive a present, take a cooking class, we eventually want to share the adventure with someone by telling them a story. 


The act of telling a story is called narration. Narration typically involves some sense of time order or chronological order. All this means is that something happened first, and, then, many other events followed. Sometimes a storyteller begins at the end to make the story even more interesting. This way, as the listener or reader, you have to watch for the clues that lead to the conclusion you heard at the start. Making up a scary ghost story and relating it around a camp fire, or on a neighbor's lawn as we did when I was a kid, is an act of narration. Narration generally means any kind of explaining or telling of something. It is usually used in reference to storytelling.

A story can be told in first person or third person. When a story is told in first person, the narrator becomes the "I" of the story. He/She becomes the eye, too. In other words, everything that happens in the story is experienced or witnessed or told by the narrator. When a story is told in third person, every character is referred to by the narrator as "he", "she", "it", or "they", but never as "I" or "we."  It is clear that in third person narration, the narrator is a person who tells the story and is not a character of any kind within the story.

Common examples of narration include: a retelling of something that happened; a history; a family story, like how my parents first met; a report; an account; a chronicle; a diary or journal entry; an autobiography; or a biography. The art of narration lies in the tension or conflict that exists in the story and that has to be resolved in some way by the characters or the narrator herself. A narration can explore an idea or teach a lesson. Micah used the example of a roller coaster when he shared his experience of moving back to California and what it felt like to start all over making friends. The tension builds or the conflict comes to a head as the roller coaster inches its way toward the top. Then, as it descends, the conflict is resolved and the lesson is learned.

Your assignment for next week: Continue to work on the narration you started with the free write we did at the beginning of class yesterday. Include characters and details. Include events. Be sure to tell us what happened first and what came next. In the beginning, give us a hint about the lesson that will be learned.

Your other option is to respond to the following prompt, which I read to you at the end of class yesterday: "Your school prints a magazine every year. The editors have decided to devote one entire issue to heroic adventures and daring rescues. Think about Gerta's heroic adventure in A Night Divided, and write a story about her." You may, as Nathan requested, write about Gerta from another person's perspective. For example, you can write about Gerta while making Fritz, her older brother, the narrator.

As always, please submit your work by 7 p.m., Wednesday, July 26, if you would like to see it on the blog. 

Interview of Officer Müller’s Wife by Zoe Ramirez

Officer Müller’s Wife is the woman whom Gerta claimed was pretty. Her name is not spoken because she could get arrested if the German government of East Berlin finds out that Officer Müller takes good care of his wife.

Q: What made you decide to try escaping to the West?

A: My husband always has his gun in hand and has to kill people for work. I didn’t like him doing that, but I knew he was forced to act this way. I believed the West was a safer place for my family and has more job opportunities.

Q: How scared were you when the Grenzers came into the tunnel and your husband ran toward them?

A: I was absolutely terrified both for my husband and my son. I was also nervous that my son was crying. Luckily, he stopped, and I couldn’t see why. My husband could have gotten shot, too, if the Grenzers thought that he was betraying them.

Q: How did you feel about the government of East Berlin personally?

A: I agreed with some of their rules, like curfew, but the rest was pure nonsense! You don’t need a Death Strip to keep people from escaping. I felt very insecure because I knew that everyone was being watched. My son was in danger, too.

Q: When you went to the market, did you take what was on the shelves, bargain with the Benders or what?

A: I did both. If I needed something specific that was not on the shelves, I would bargain. But, usually, I would take items from the shelves.

Q: Did you feel your husband broke the law by betraying the Grenzers or that he did the right thing?

A: I am kind of in the middle. I knew that eventually the Grenzers would start to break the law, but I also think my husband did the right thing by putting his family first and escaping to the West.

An Interview of Officer Müller by Hogan Kim

Q: As an officer in the Grenzer patrol, were you afraid to shoot anyone?

A: Yeah, a little bit because it could have been someone I know.

Q: When Gerta asked you to come with her and escape East Berlin, was it a hard choice?

A: Yes, it was a hard choice. I wanted to protect my family, and as an officer, I had a duty to protect the government and its laws. I did not like my government and its rules, but I was also afraid that an attempt to escape might put my family in danger.

Q: When you were training to be a Grenzer, was it hard?

A: It was painful. Sometimes we had to go without food and water for several days. Other times, we had to practice drills until my legs were so tired, I did not think I could stand.

Q: You were very young during World War II. Do you remember how you felt during the war?

A: I was scared. What I remember most is the noise that the air raid sirens would make. I was afraid that a bomb would fall on my family home.

Q: If Gerta and Fritz do not finish the tunnel, will you report them?

A: Yes. I will have to report them.  

An Interview of Oma Gertrude by Brandon Vasquez

Q: Have you ever stolen anything in your life?

A: Yes, I have. I lived during both World Wars. There were often food shortages, so I had to steal in order to survive.

Q: How did you learn to steal?

A: I learned how to steal by watching other people do it.

Q: What was your childhood life like?

A: It was rough growing up because I was separated from my friends. During the war, I was afraid I would be killed from bombs and airstrikes.

Q: Have you ever wanted to try to escape East Berlin but felt scared to do it?

A: Yes, I have wanted to escape. But, I don’t want to get caught because the Grenzers would kill me.

Q: What would you do if you escaped to West Berlin?

A: I would buy a nice house, a nice car, and lots of food in West Berlin.