Historic Waters
At school, something “historical” was long time ago, outdated and not very realistic. But our first cruise with Regina turned this prejudice by 180 degrees. “Historical waters” in the eastern part of Germany became more than realistic to us.
Initially, we wanted to see some “historic cities” with Stralsund as one of the most interesting one.

Stralsund had been under Swedish leadership for almost 200 years ending in the 19th century, so we wanted to give formerly “southern Sweden” a visit.
The harbour of Stralsund in Eastern Germany
Of course, it was indeed interesting, with all the historic houses, where most are still to be renovated.

Close by, wonderfully renovated buildings stand next to empty ramshackle houses with “For Sale signs”. There is still enormous work to be done, since these historical buildings, including churches, seem totally having been neglected under 50 years of socialistic leadership.
People are very friendly in Eastern Germany and if it had not been for the (still) limited number of renovated houses, the (still) very few visiting sailing vessels from West and the (still) comparably lower prices, it could just as well have been Western Germany.

Churches, buildings and museums were visited during our stay at Stralsund while the gale was blowing with force 7 to 8 day after day.

Interesting, yes, but not “living”, really.
Then, in a book store, I found a newly published book called “To Freedom over the Batic”. What was described here changed our view of the coast we were just sailing at. The described situation in the book was about the very people we meet today when walking through the streets, since it was less than 15 years ago!

I had heard fragments about their lives here, but had no picture of how desperate some of these people were longing for seeing and hearing anything but their own political version of reality and the system “leading” the individuals to their best. Can you believe that there were more than 5000 known trial of desperate people leaving “DDR” via the Baltic?
Swimming, surfing, sailing, high-jacking military and customs vessels. Even self built U-boats were developed. Everything was put on risk for their desire to leave the country. Isn’t it strange that a country needs to lock in their inhabitants in their fear that people would leave otherwise? Well that’s how the country collapsed in the end: too many went over the border to Hungary in 1989 and there was no support from Sovjet any longer to stop them.
But until then, there were many tragic stories of families not being able to cope with constant supervision, even by so called “IM’s” (“Inoffizielle Mitarbeiter”), i.e. civilian volunteers. These “IM’s” were given better prospects like a car and an flat earlier in the DDR-world by them spying on others, ranging from friends, colleagues to even parents and sisters and brothers.
I wanted to find out more about this and this dark part of German history along the Baltic Coast.

I got into conversation with an approximately 25 year old girl, who said that she and her pre-school friends were interviewed if they had “lines” or “dots” on their TV-screens and by this finding out if they were watching “West-TV” at home.

“You never knew who was a friend and who as an ‘IM’ (spy). There were IM’s everywhere at all times, and I was shocked when I found out that one of my student colleagues, who I was good friend with, also turned out to have been an IM”, another woman explained to us sitting next to us in a restaurant the other day. She continued: “My husband had a “File” since he was 14, meaning that he was under constant supervision thereafter”. Of, course, the lady and her husband didn’t know that and found out after 1989 when the wall had fallen and everybody was allowed to check if they were “filed”. I asked: “Why he was under supervision?”. She answered:”Well, at the age of 14 he had expressed that we wanted to become a sea-man and since he had relatives in the West, this was enough to suspect that he had plans to flee the country. Thus he got his “file” and experienced difficulties all the time in DDR”.

These two stories were told to us yesterday by these people personally. It is just as real as anything, and, at the same time, “historic” since the socialistic dictatorship collapsed under the burden of their own system.
One of the well watched over beaches, here in Warenmünde
Erich Honecker, the leader of DDR until him being dethroned in the peaceful revolution in 1989, can easily be accused for the totalitarian and bureaucratic system. However, it could never have been so efficient, had there not been thousands and thousands of “IM’s” and other civilian finding their way through life by following the system and by this receiving acceptable living conditions for themselves.
I’m walking through the streets of Stralsund as a free man saying hello to equally free Germans.

What do they think – today? What did they think – then? Who of these people we pass in the street were “IM’s”? Who worked for “Stasi”, the secret police of DDR?
Back to our conversation with the lady of yesterday, now finally being able to talk freely: “Often, we stood in Sasnitz looking over the horizon seeing the ferryboats with Swedish tourists coming and leaving. Why could they come and go, and why could we not see what lies behind the horizon?”
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The lady we talked to here in Stralsund was just thinking at that times. Not loud, obviously. But there were others who were so demotivated by the system that they only saw one solution: the way over the sea to freedom risking everyting.
A ferry-boat bound for Denmark, today with free people from Eastern Germany onboard
In these very waters we are now sailing in as free men together with Germans who today can sail where and when they please were very different less than 15 years ago. There was a huge activity from both sides. Civilians preparing their escape, and others watching the coast and the land behind it.

Many people were stopped long before their trial came into action. It was often too obvious, did they try to organise a compass, a diving suit, charts or anything other “suspicious”. Others were stopped when their luggage was checked on the train and it included an inflatable dingy-boat on their way to the coast. And if they ever made it to try the escape into the sea, there was a massive search operation shortly thereafter, hunting on naked people with guns and military vessels, with radars and huge search lights. No cost was to high to prevent people to leave the country. Military action the other way round, one can think today. Military action against its own civilians leaving the country.
REGINA alongside a former fishing vessel built during the war in the 1940's. Today acting as an excursion boat for fishing entusiasts, totally impossible before 1989.
Some did make it to the west over the sea, through thorough and most secret preparation, intelligence, patience, inventions and a great portion of luck. However, their left behinds, such as family and friends got in deep trouble. Could family and friends prove that they did not know anything about any plans of escape they could be lucky enough only to be treated unfavourably by the system. Did family and friend know about the escape plans, however, they got imprisoned for many years, sentenced in secret trials, accused for not having told the country about the escape plans of a fellow citizen.

With this background, sailing in these waters has forever become different to me. This is the hunting ground on innocent and naked people longing for the horizon. It was done by people living today and refugees still living.
For me, considering myself as a world citizen and sailor, the horizon is the symbol of freedom and everybody should have the right to aim for the horizon. It became very clear to me in these waters that not everybody has this privilege still today. For many on our planet, not even a day-sail a couple of miles out to return within a couple of hours is allowed for political reasons.
Jessica and me at the harbour enterence in Warenmünde. How many people had looked at that opening as a way out of "DDR"?
I will always keep my privilege in mind, every time I head for the free horizon. And that is what sailing is about.

Book (still only available in German as per my knowledge): “Über die Ostsee in die Feiheit”, by Christine & Bodo Müller, Delius Klasing Verlag, ISBN 3-7688-0925-0, 2001.

More info on the escape over the Baltic here. (in German only)