“There was still a risk of being shot”: Escape from the GDR in a boot

Jens Milbret grows up in a small town near Rostock in the former GDR. In the early summer of 1989, he flees across Hungary to Austria in the boot of his brother's car. In an interview, he tells us what prompted him to take on this risk and how, after 35 years of German reunification, he looks back on his life in divided and united Germany. He also talks about his dramatic escape.

Jens Milbret has been living in Australia for 27 years. The picture was taken in 1993. At that time, he was 31 years old.

Leipzig im März 1990: Tausende feiern die Öffnung der innerdeutschen Grenzen und die bevorstehende Wiedervereinigung bei einem Auftritt des damaligen Bundeskanzlers Helmut Kohl. Credit: Patrick PIEL/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

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