Berlin will long remember a young East German named Peter Fechter who last summer tried to escape across the Wall and was shot down by the Red border cops. Wounded, he was left to bleed to death ...

The regime’s contempt for human life was writ large in the fate of Peter Fechter, a mere 18 years old. On Aug. 17, 1962, while trying to get over the Wall, Fechter was gunned down.

More than 300 East Berliners turned out for the funeral of Peter Fechter, the 18-year-old bricklayer who had been shot and left to die while trying to cross the Wall.