Nov. 2, 1964 - Thousands of elderly East Germans poured across the boundary to the West today as the Communists permitted such traffic for the first time since they built their wall more than three years ago.
About 2,500 men and women of pension age arrived in West Berlin on the first day of a program that allows them visiting periods of four weeks with relatives in the West. Thousands of others traveled in overcrowded trains to destinations in West Germany.
Tears of joy, embraces and kisses were the order of the day at West Berlin's elevated stops and street crossings. But tragedy struck when an elderly woman succumbed to the excitement of being reunited with her daughter at the Zoo railway station.
The police said Mrs. Anna Goebel, 83 years old, of Bernburg, collapsed of a heart attack on the platform. She died in a hospital, her daughter at her side.
As the East Germans arrived in the West, 23,000 West Berliners crossed the wall in the opposite direction to make this the heaviest two‐way‐traffic day since Aug. 13, 1961, when the Communists cut Berlin in two.
The West Berliners are traveling under an East‐West arrangement that provides day passes to those with close relatives on the other side. They are allowed one visit in a two‐week period ending Nov. 12 and two more visits at Christmas.
More than 120,000 have already crossed for family reunions in the four days since the program began.
At Hanover, at Büchen near Lübeck, and at other stations beyond the border in West Germany, Red Cross nurses and other volunteers stood by with tea, soft drinks, and medical supplies as the first trains arrived.
A 76‐year‐old man, triumphantly waving a bouquet, said he had come from Dresden to visit his son and daughter‐in‐law in Hamburg for the first time in four years. “This is the best day in my life,” he said with tears running down his cheeks. “I have brought a toy train for my two little grandsons.”
Under the new East German regulation men over 65 years of age and women over 60 can visit their relatives in the West once a year. Most of the divided families had not met since the border was closed in 1961.
Younger persons are excluded. It is believed that a complete lifting of travel restrictions could endanger the stability of the East German regime. Western experts estimate that more than half the population of 17 million would remain in the West if they had the chance.
The Communists are operating 16 special trains between major cities in East Germany and railway centers in the West to cope with the stream of travelers.
A woman who came to Berlin from Halle said there had been some trouble there because several elderly people lacked the money to buy return tickets. With low pensions the rule in East Germany, most of the visitors depended on financial help from their relatives in the West. Authorities have set aside the equivalent of $12.50 for each East German who arrives.
“I have never known our police to be as kind as they were today,” an East Berlin woman said at the Oberbaum bridge, where she had crossed on foot. “They carried my things and were very helpful. I wonder whether they are happy to get rid of us old people or whether this is a new spirit of loving one's neighbor.”
“Come, mother, it is time we went home,” her son said. He patted her arm, helped her into his auto and drove off.
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