One night in September 1979, the two couples and their chidlren climbed into this makeshift construction, with its corrugated iron floor, iron frame, four bottles of propane, and tent canvases hand-stitched together. They lifted off into the sky leaving everything behind them. Thanks to favorable winds, some 30 minutes later they came down to earth, unsure as to whether they’d succeeded. Then they saw a car drive past with the word “Polizei” on its side. It wasn’t an east-German car; it was an Audi 80. The Strelzyks and Wetzels were in the west. Free.
 
Adapted for the cinema in the film “Wind of Freedom” (2018), directed by Michael Bully Herbig.

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