Word: easts
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...Details in the Stasi's report on Jackson suggest that the Western promoter, the concert's sponsor and Jackson's management were more than willing to accommodate the East Germans' concerns. In the minutes of a preparatory meeting of Stasi officials, dated May 4, 1988, the Stasi notes discussions that it was having with the head of the West German company that was organizing the concert. The names are blacked out in the report. According to the report, the organizer "together with Jackson's management is willing to build the stage at such a height that it is not visible...
...would the West Berlin promoter be so willing to cooperate with the East Germans? Possibly because the concert was sponsored by Coca-Cola, which had a stake in keeping East-West relations smooth. "The Coca-Cola company has economic interests in a relationship with the G.D.R.," the report says. "A meeting between the company's management and the General Secretary [Erich Honecker, head of the Socialist Unity Party and G.D.R. leader] is planned...
...crowd of about 5,000 people did gather on the eastern side of the Wall, according to a June 20, 1988, wire report by West Germany's Deutsche Presse Agentur news service, which is included in the Stasi file. It says that hundreds of East German security forces rushed the crowd in the early morning hours after the concert, and estimates that about 30 people were arrested. (See pictures of the young Michael Jackson in his own backyard...
...though it's difficult to verify the accuracy of the Stasi report, it appears that the East Germans who ventured to the Wall that night in the hope of hearing Jackson were disappointed. Alfred and Scarlett Kleint, who today write scripts for German television, were not Jackson fans but were curious to see the spectacle. They marched down Unter den Linden, past the Soviet embassy, the streets full of people. Alfred describes seeing a lot of police but says the atmosphere was peaceful. He climbed partway up one of the trees on the median on Unter den Linden. A policeman...
...Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk, a historian at the government agency that maintains the Stasi files today, was a teenager in 1988 and worked as a doorman in East Berlin. He was also a die-hard Pink Floyd fan and determined to get close enough to the Wall to hear the concert. He wound his way through backstreets to a building near the Wall and climbed onto the roof from a window in the building's attic. Yet despite his efforts, he could hardly hear a thing. (See pictures of people around the world mourning Michael Jackson...