East Germans Free N.Y. Woman Who Climbed Berlin Wall
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EAST BERLIN — East German authorities Wednesday released a New York woman arrested for climbing on the Berlin Wall to take a photograph, a U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said.
Cynthia Miller, spokeswoman for the embassy in East Berlin, said that Susan Kleckner, 52, of New York City was arrested at the wall on the East-West city border at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and released at about 2 p.m. Wednesday.
She was turned over to a representative of the embassy and returned to West Berlin, Miller said.
West Berlin police said the woman used a ladder to mount the 10-foot-wall near the Western Allies’ Checkpoint Charlie at the Friedrichstrasse crossing point for foreigners.
Police said that unlike John Runnings, 69, Kleckner was not attempting to demonstrate against the wall but merely was taking a photo.
Runnings, a retired carpenter from Seattle, has been dubbed the “Wall Walker” for his campaign against the wall, built by the East in 1961 to halt the mass flight of refugees to the West.
He was deported and given an 18-month suspended sentence earlier this month.
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