‘That night was when I decided I would do as my father said. I should escape to the West. I knew of the risks, and that I may not make it. I’d heard many stories of people being shot trying to get over the Wall. But even though I was already over, I was still surrounded by guards with guns. The next morning, as the commander and I made our way through the lobby for the final, with reporters shouting questions and cameras clicking and flashing, I saw my chance – a gap between the commander and the bodyguards that I could escape through. The guards wouldn’t shoot me, not in broad daylight, not with the whole world watching. I ran through the gap, out of the hotel doors and onto the pavement. The street was full of people walking and cars blaring their horns, stuck in traffic. I could not trust any of the people just in case they were Stasi, so I ran through the traffic as fast I could without looking back. Eventually I slowed down in a suburb of the city where the streets were quiet, and that evening I made my way across the city to my sister’s house in Heinz Hoffmann-Straße. And I saw her for the first time in over a year.’

‘Wow, Granddad,’ I say. ‘It’s so exciting it could be a film.’

Granddad gives me a weary smile.

‘Yes,’ he says. ‘It could be a film, but unfortunately it is true and it does not end well.’

‘But you escaped,’ I say. ‘You wouldn’t be here now if you hadn’t.’

Granddad smiles again. He said the story does not end well, but why? From the sad look in Granddad’s eyes, I suddenly think I know the reason.

‘He didn’t let him go, Granddad. Did he? The commander never let your dad go.’

‘No.’ Granddad shakes his head slowly. ‘He sent my father to that place near Poland. My mother never saw him again. I never saw my father again. All we had were two letters from him, saying he didn’t want us to worry because he was okay. But he wasn’t okay. One year later, my mother received a letter from the Stasi, telling her that my father had died. They never said when or how.’ Granddad takes his glasses off and wipes his eyes on his sleeve.

‘I have never been able to forgive myself,’ he says. ‘My mother came to live with me after the Wall came down, but I should never have left her and my father behind. I should have helped the commander win the final.’

‘But it wasn’t your fault, Granddad. He still might not have let them go.’