Escape to Freedom by Michael Phillips

Author:Michael Phillips
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rosetta
Published: 1994-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

58

A Peculiar Visit

The communication, when it arrived, was all the more mysterious in that there seemed no mystery to it at all.

All the proper restrictions regulating business dealings between the BRD and the DDR had been observed. The meeting had been cleared by several governmental agencies as well as the Stasi. The man’s permit to enter East Germany for the day and then return to the western sector had been granted. Everything seemed so perfectly in order as to satisfy even the suspicious Communists.

The only question left unanswered was… why?

Why would one of West Berlin’s leading building contractors want to consult with him, Josef Dahlmann, a simple and unpretentious East German mechanic?

Nothing about the request made the slightest sense.

Yet this was not a place where asking too many questions was healthy. He had been called on by the authorities. It had been explained to him that a request had come to their office for an interview, and they had granted it. The West Berliner would be brought out to his home—accompanied by an agency official, of course—in five days.

The only thing Josef could imagine, and during those five days the thought plagued him with mounting anxiety, was that something had been discovered in the matter of the escape attempt—the truck perhaps—and the supposed interview was but a ruse. Were they coming to arrest him? Had the Stasi uncovered the entire underground network?

The day arrived with no resolution to his angst.

But the good man needn’t have worried. At midday the car arrived and the official of the DDR presented himself, then introduced Friedrich Detmold of the BRD to the humble village mechanic.

“Herr Dahlmann,” said the contractor as the two men shook hands, “no doubt you are curious as to my reason for seeking you out.”

Josef nodded, still half expecting to be arrested by some hidden Stasi or Vopo.

“I am a contractor, as I understand you have been told,” Detmold went on. “I have a certain piece of large industrial equipment about which I need your advice.”

“Please… come in,” said Josef.

“I would, of course, be only too happy to help,” he said, offering the two guests seats, “but how… how do you know of me? I repair mostly cars and trucks.”

“And large farm equipment, if I am not mistaken.”

“Yes… that is, uh… true, but—”

“You see, Herr Dahlmann,” said the contractor, “I do know of you, and that is enough. You are considered—by those I have spoken with—to be an expert with regard to the machine of mine which is inoperable at the moment. Quite simply—that is why I have come: to seek your advice about bringing my project to completion.”

“I still do not understand,” said a bewildered Josef. “But… but of course, I will do whatever I am able to assist you.”

“Good… excellent!” replied Detmold enthusiastically.

He looked around the room.

“Perhaps our, ah—our comrade here,” he said, indicating his governmental chaperone, “would care for some tea or coffee while we discuss the technicalities of the matter?”

“Of course. Angela,” called Josef.

In a minute his sister appeared.

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