In September 1980 I attended a conference in Berlin, and decided to take Linda along. To get there by car we had to pass through East Germany, which required flag orders under the agreement that partitioned Berlin into four zones, one each for the US, UK, France and the Soviet Union. The Soviets were required to grant access to the other three countries forces following the Berlin Blockade. Crossing the border was interesting. We had to give our passport and papers to the Soviet border guards, not to the East German guards. We then had two hours to reach West Berlin. We could only drive on the autobahn that went directly to Berlin, which was built by Hitler and had not been maintained since. If we didn't arrive in Berlin within two hours they would come
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