Berlin Wall love story ends in Washington DC v Berlin, but still brings a smile

This story about a couple separated by the Berlin Wall made me smile for lots of reasons. Beautiful Katerina, stuck in Communist East Germany in 1989 and wanting to escape, approached visiting Western Deutsche Welle (DW) journalist Adrian Kennedy, and asked him to marry her. He agreed, without really stopping to think. It would give her the best chance of getting out. Otherwise, Katerina would have had to apply to authorities to leave. Not only would permission have probably been refused, but her education, employment and housing prospects would have been severely damaged, just for asking.

Together, they spent months building up a fake relationship, only for it to turn into a real one. But before their plan came into action, events overtook them. The Berlin Wall came down and, returning from work in West Berlin and hearing the news, Adrian was struck by a terrifying realization - Katerina would soon be turning up in West Berlin, and the apartment he shared with other young guys was not fit for female habitation! As the historic fall of the Berlin Wall took place, reporter Adrian was busy cleaning house for his fiancee's arrival!

They were reunited and did marry - not because they had to, but because they wanted to. It's a little sad that the marriage only lasted three years, but these things do happen. Adrian is still working for media station DW in the now-unified Berlin. Katerina's in Washington D.C. I'd love to hear her take on the story too. It's a short video at the link. Well worth watching, if you have the time.

*Just as a footnote, Adrian's gesture wasn't that unusual. There were many, many people in West Germany who tried their utmost to help Germans who wanted to leave the East German DDR. They were very ingenious and brave too - using everything from tunnels to model 'Trojan' cows. if I recollect correctly, one East German man just drove his bulldozer or truck, straight through the wall, and people on the other side pulled him out quickly, before border guards could shoot him. Can't recollect his name now.

http://www.dw.de/my-berlin-wall-story/av-18045621

I watched the video, now I would also love to hear Katerina's story, Their story is really quite amazing. In there recent times there are not too many circumstances such as these - the Berlin Wall - to give a love story a tragic and dramatic theme. I think Katerina wanted to get further away than the other side of the wall, even though it had just become defunct, and Washington D.C. is a lot further away.