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PEOPLE & ARTS Saturday 9 November 2019
Escape tunnel underneath Berlin Wall opens to public

it could only crawl through in prison." "She was 22 years
it. It led from the basement old and was sentenced
of a corner building on the for nothing other than an
western side of the Wall to escape attempt," he said,
another building on the still angry with the East Ger-
eastern side. man regime 30 years after
Ulrich Pfeifer, a civil engi- its collapse.
neer and one of the build- Trying to flee East Germany
ers of the tunnel, made was dangerous. Research-
calculations and created ers estimate that 140 peo-
maps for the project. ple died trying to cross the
Pfeifer fled to West Berlin Wall by flying over it, es-
through the sewerage sys- caping through the sew-
tem just a few weeks after erage system or jumping
the Wall was erected in Au- from buildings adjacent to
gust 1961. the border.
He said his motivation to It is not clear how many
dig escape tunnels was people died trying to es-
"the conviction of my girl- cape specifically through
friend, who got seven years the tunnels.q
People cover historic photos as they wait to see an escape
tunnel, underneath the Berlin Wall which divided the city for 28 Hootie & the Blowfish return but new
years during the Cold War, and was make visible for public for
the first time, in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019.
Associated Press album blows
By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER War. It cut off East Ger-
Associated Press mans from the supposed By MARK KENNEDY
BERLIN (AP) — An escape ideological contamination Associated Press
tunnel underneath the Ber- of the West and stemmed Hootie & the Blowfish, "Im-
lin Wall opened to the pub- the tide of people flee- perfect Circle" (Capitol
lic on Thursday for the first ing the country. In the 28 Nashville) Come roll back
time amid celebrations of years that the Wall divided the years with Hootie & the
the 30-year anniversary of the city , more than 70 tun- Blowfish. Their new 13-track
the opening of communist nels were built underneath offering will transport you
East Germany's border. the 156.4-kilometer (97.2- to when Bill Clinton was in
The tunnel at Bernauer mile) barrier and around office and the Macarena
Strasse, near the city's 300 people managed to took over America.
main Wall memorial, was escape through them, ac- "Imperfect Circle," their first
opened by Mayor Michael cording to the Berlin Under- studio album in almost 15
Mueller. He thanked those worlds Association, which years, picks off right where
who started digging the conducts tours of the city's they left off, with earnest
100-meter (yard) tunnel in historic bunkers and tun- and yet utterly forgettable
late 1970, nine years after nels. Most tunnels were songs. They're nice when
East Germany sealed its dug from the West to the you play them but make
border. East. Bernauer Strasse in the no discernible impression.
"It's great to see that the city's Mitte neighborhood For any younger readers,
battle for freedom was also was one of the most pop- a refresher: Hootie & the This cover image released by Capitol Records Nashville shows
taken underground," Muel- ular spots for tunnel dig- Blowfish emerged from the "Imperfect Circle," the latest release by Hootie & The Blowfish.
ler said before he took a gers because of the high University of South Caro- Associated Press
tour of the new exhibit. amount of clay in the soil lina with a laid-back, post- songs to his longtime wife always altering, nothing on
"One can authentically ex- — seven tunnels were built grunge and cheerful mix of and reminding listeners he's this album is fresh.
perience ... the courage underneath the wall on a rootsy rock and country. a lucky, lucky man. "Why's Most of the lyrics sound like
of the women and men 350-meter (yard) stretch Saddled with a name that a beauty queen standing what you'd find stitched
who tried to take people to here. aged poorly — both parts here with me?" he asks onto the pillows of a hip-
freedom and resisted the Not all tunnel projects were are nicknames for guys not Rucker's voice has a deep- pie baby boomer — "Mon-
East German regime," he successful. Some collapsed even in the band — Hootie er baritone and a more pro- days are just Fridays in dis-
added. before they could be used, & the Blowfish took the best nounced twang, showing guise," ''There ain't nothing
The tunnel was built by a while others were discov- new artist title at the 1996 the influence of his years as that a little love can't get
group of people who had ered by East Germany's se- Grammys thanks to such a country chart-topper. But us through" and "Tell me to
escaped earlier to West cret police, the Stasi. hits as "Hold My Hand," ''Let the songs are mushy. "Wild- and I will shoot down the
Berlin. They wanted to help The newly opened tunnel Her Cry" and "Only Wanna fire Love" featuring Lucie moon." Rucker is all about
friends and family to flee to at Bernauer Strasse can be Be With You," and then Silvas was co-written by Ed a can't-we-just-get-along
the West but, days before reached through an ac- took their place with other Sheeran but neither make ethos. The closest he gets
it was finished, somebody cess tunnel built by the Un- inoffensive college bro- it spark. "Hold On" is co-writ- to socially conscious is the
informed East German of- derworlds Association. rockers like Blues Traveler ten by Chris Stapleton and cheerful, Hawaiian-tinged
ficials about it. Through two windows, 7.5 and Counting Crows. wastes some funky guitar. "We Are One," in which he
East German authorities meters (24.6 feet) under The intervening decades The majority of the album blithely sings, "You and I,
then found the tunnel by the ground, visitors can have done nothing to was produced by Jeff Trott, to the left or to the right/
using ultrasound tracking peek into the dimly lit 1970 darken the Hootie vibe. who has — surprise, surprise Meet you somewhere in
and partially destroyed it. tunnel but not get inside. In fact, lead singer Darius — worked with Counting between." That would be
Built in 1961, the Wall stood The original tunnel is so nar- Rucker seems even more Crows. Though Rucker in- the middle — the mushy
at the front line of the Cold row that the men who built disengaged, writing love sists in "Change" that life is middle.q