Berlin. 24 August 1961. Two days ago, the East German government allowed border police to shoot dissidents; the Berlin Wall, and with it the Iron Curtain, has been raised less than two weeks ago and is still in its provisional state.
A young man of just 24 leaps into the Berlin-Spandau Ship Canal, separating East and West Berlin. From the railway bridge above him, police officers yell for him to stop, firing off warning shots.
He won't make it to the West.