Some people say that the 20th century was the most magnificent century in human history.
Unprecedented military confrontation, the expansion and disintegration of colonialism, the explosion of knowledge and the progress of ideas have constituted a significant stroke in the history books in this short period of one hundred years.
The man we are going to talk about today is a miracle of the 1950s and 1960s, and his name is Osman Kalin.
During the Cold War, as a Turk, he actually occupied a piece of land in the name of a private person in East and West Germany to prevent the Berlin Wall from falling on each other, which is a well-deserved German version of "nail households".
Not only that, but Osman Karin was also recognized by the upper echelons of both sides, and after his death in 2018, his descendants inherited the vegetable gardens and houses on the land.
Why did Osman Karin "occupy" the land in this sensitive area? What did he do with the land?
01. Causes
During World War II, Germany was defeated and has since been divided into two, for the sake of clear definition and ease of management.
In 1961, a 155-kilometer-long wall was erected at the junction of East and West Berlin, which was the landmark of the cold war in history, but the Berlin Wall was not built according to the drawings.
According to the original plan, the Berlin Wall was supposed to be built along Bethaniendamm Street in a certain section until the Church of St. Thomas turned east, forming a right angle, but the workers did not pay attention to this detail.
In the construction of this section, a large bend was made, pulling the Berlin Wall into a large arc, thus leaving a triangle of land that originally belonged to East Germany in the territory of West Germany.
Therefore, after the construction of the Berlin Wall, the people of East Germany could not get by, and West Germany had no jurisdiction, and a huge piece of land was reduced to a "three disregards" area full of garbage.
In times of war, people on both sides can fight for a piece of land; after the war, the land is left unattended, which is really ironic.
In this way, the garbage that has been lost in this triangle for more than twenty years finally ushered in a special "guest", who is our protagonist Osman Kalin.
Osman Kalin, a Turkish immigrant and construction worker by birth, worked diligently all his life before finally retiring and moving to the vicinity of the triangle.
During a walk, Osman Karin inadvertently came to the vicinity of the land and was quickly attracted to the stinking "garbage dump" of 350 square meters.
"Such a good land to throw away the garbage, it is too wasteful. I'm going to use it as my vegetable garden, and it's a great place to grow vegetables at first glance! ”
Osman Karin thought so in his heart, and the more he thought about it, the more excited he became, even the garbage heap in front of him was not so unbearable, and he grew up in the countryside, and he quickly thought about the destination of this land.
He had wanted to find something to spend a lot of retirement time, after all, after a lifetime of hard work, he felt uncomfortable at the thought that he would have nothing to do in his old age
When all was said and done, Osman Karin immediately began to clean up the "mountain of garbage", but he was old after all, and the speed of cleaning up was really difficult to compliment.
It took a few days and nights to clear out a small corner, which also attracted the strange eyes of many residents.
Switching to someone else may have given up, but Osman Karin is not an ordinary person, but he is more and more motivated, doing nothing and forgetting to eat, and even three meals a day are delivered by his wife who lives nearby.
Just when this "garbage mountain" was about to be emptied, the East German soldiers who had been staring at it finally could not sit still.
For more than 20 years, although they could not come over because of the existence of the Berlin Wall, the soldiers who had been stationed on the Berlin Wall for many years had paid much attention to this land.
The garbage heap that was once cleaned up by an old man, what was his purpose? In an instant, countless possibilities flashed through the minds of the East German soldiers.
An East German soldier stood on the watchtower and shouted at Osman Karin's position: "Hey, old man, why are you disposing of the garbage here?" ”
Osman Karin heard this and quickly described his thoughts to the East German soldiers: "Comrade soldier, I want to open a vegetable garden here and plant trees and vegetables!" ”
When the East German soldier heard that, oh, he had not done something unseemly, he waved his hand and went, but demanded that Osman Kalin must set aside a position three meters away from the Berlin Wall, so that they could observe and guard against the actions of some outlaws.
The reason why the East German soldiers were so vigilant was not unreasonable, in the decades since the Berlin Wall was built, the soldiers did not know how many West Germans who wanted to dig tunnels to East Germany were shot, and the situation was sensitive, and they could not be careless.
After obtaining the permission of the East German soldiers, Osman Karin no longer had any psychological burden, and he was still a little hesitant to be expelled by the East German soldiers.
But now that the owners of this land have agreed, what else can they do? So, after cleaning up the land's rubbish, Osman Karin immediately went to work on the construction of the vegetable garden.
The West German police, like the East German soldiers, watched Osman Karin as he began to clean up the garbage.
After all, the berlin wall is a sensitive area, and any unusual every move needs to be paid attention to.
After an emergency consultation, the West German police came to Osman Kalin, who was sweating profusely, and violently expelled him, demanding that he not operate in the area.
This unashamed appearance can provoke the grumpy old man.
"The people of East Germany don't care about me, so why should the people of West Germany care?" If you don't want me to farm and occupy my vegetable garden, you first step over my corpse! ”
Does this scare the West German police, for the sake of this land? But in the end, this is indeed the territory of East Germany, although people can't come over, but every day the tiger stares at it.
The lord didn't mind, the west German police had no reason to be tough, so they didn't have a chance.
The East German soldiers on the watchtowers saw the small conflict in their eyes, because for this well-known historical reason, although they had the same roots, they scorned each other.
Seeing that the West German police were frustrated, the East German soldiers were happy, so they sent the East Berlin authorities to inform Osman Karin: This land belongs to you, you can plant trees if you want, you can plant vegetables if you want, and you can plant vegetables if you want, to ensure that no one will come to you!
In this way, Osman Kalin harvested a small piece of land, all of which belonged to him privately.
Looking at it with our current eyes, we may feel ridiculous, where do you go to white to have such a large piece of land? But at that time, anything could happen.
02, passed
350 square meters of land, said big is not big, said small is not small, but for an old man with limited physical strength, it is more suitable for planting some fruits and vegetables.
The East German soldiers had long developed friends with Osman Kalin, and the days of the garrison were boring and boring, and it was a lot of fun to watch Osman Kalin diligently cultivate the land every day.
Osman Karin also remembers their kindness, waving to the soldiers standing guard every morning and giving each other gifts at Christmas.
The first thing Osman Karin did when he packed up the land was to plant his favorite onions, not only that, but he also planted peach trees and apple trees, and every year when it was ripe, the rich fruit aroma lasted for a long time, attracting many hungry children to watch and swallow.
Osman Karin doesn't mind either, he can eat whatever he wants, as long as you are sincere and friendly enough to like his vegetables and fruits, he will even invite you to tea and snacks, and get along like friends.
Gradually, Osman Kalin became famous in the region, and the residents of the triangle saw the changes in the triangle and admired him from time to time as they watched the "garbage heap" that was once a retreat into a vibrant vegetable garden.
In the end, even college students like to go to Osman Karin's garden to write their homework, saying that the beautiful environment here can stimulate their brains and burst out more inspiration.
Osman Karin's dignified "occupation of land" at the junction of the two countries also attracted a group of anarchists.
They called Osman Kalin a brave warrior like a lion, a well-deserved hero in the struggle between East and West Germany.
In his second year of opening a vegetable garden, Osman Karin decided to abandon his original residence and live with his wife in his own vegetable garden.
He first built a shed in it, but the shed was so simple that when visitors came to visit, there was not even a place to stay, so he simply built a small two-story house next to a large tree in the middle of the vegetable garden.
Although the sparrow is small and complete, Osman Karin is worthy of being a construction worker, this small house not only has a study bedroom, but even has water and electricity, of course, this is a standard illegal building, but how can people care about this?
They would only marvel at the clever Ottoman Karin who had come up with a new trick, and look at the house he built, how beautiful! People also gave the house a name, "Tree House by the Berlin Wall."
With the garden and the house, Osman Karin began a happy farming life.
He grew up in the countryside, then went to the city to earn a living, after several wars, never returned to his hometown, did not expect to live in the usual vegetable garden of his childhood in his later years, which made Osman Karin very pleased.
Osman Karin had a very pleasant life, and when he could not finish growing vegetables, he took them to the street to sell, and sometimes in order to save trouble, he gave them directly to the neighbors.
He also often led a group of people to barbecue in the vegetable garden, and the smell of fireworks made the East German soldiers who could only stand on the Berlin Wall and watch but could not eat.
But Osman Karin's farming plans were not all smooth sailing, such as the extremely important irrigation issue. In the beginning, in order to solve the water source, he had to carry water from his apartment every day.
After several round-trips, Rao was unable to hold on to the ability of Osman Karin, and in order to solve the problem once and for all, he simply brought an old water pump that looked abandoned in a nearby church.
However, this pump is not what Osman Karin thought, it is an emergency reserve pump in West Berlin, and it is illegal for private use.
The West German police are in good spirits, and they can't farm you, so can't this blatant violation of the law punish you?
As a result, Osman Karin quickly received a fine of 600 euros, and it is difficult to say whether the high fine was a little personal. (Here 600 euros is converted into new banknotes)
600 euros was not a small amount at the time, and according to the size of osman Karin's vegetable garden, it was not known how many garlic onions had to be hollowed out to sell for this price.
Osman Kalin was angry and anxious, and he could not defend himself, so he had no choice but to send his son, Meh.
When Maihe learned of this, he was also very helpless about his father, what do you say is this called? But he could not disobey his father's wishes. Meher wrote a letter to the West German authorities, saying:
"Hello, you say my dad is a thief, he's sad, he's not. He had never done anything like stealing in his life, but thought it would be harmless to take some water and pour vegetables. We don't have any money for you, thank you. ”
What the Ottoman Kalin fathers and sons did not expect was that this absurd letter of appeal actually impressed the People of the West German authorities, and the fine was so lightly canceled.
When Osman Karin's granddaughter later mentioned the incident, she couldn't help but be a little amused.
She said: "If I were asked to write this letter, I would have been earnest in my words and would have written down the course of events clearly." But it is estimated that there will be no such dramatic effect, and our family's fine will definitely be paid. ”
It can be seen that the Germans, who have always been known for their rigor, are also a little witty in their bones.
03. Results
In 1989, the Berlin Wall was demolished, and Osman Karlin's vegetable garden was no longer separated from East Germany.
People are very curious, after the reunification of the two Germans, what should be done with this land? Is it still privately owned by Osman Karin?
Osman Karin lived here for many years and became familiar with the surrounding residents, but to the new government, Osman Karin was nothing more than a "nail household" occupying public land.
They gave Osman Kalin an ultimatum to him to move away quickly, this time unlike the west Germany that had been a promise, and the repossession of territory was a legitimate demand.
Who knows, Osman Kalin has not said anything, the nearby residents are not dry, they immediately launched a demonstration to protest, refusing to hand over the vegetable garden.
The church, which had been taken advantage of by Osman Karin for water, was not idle, and did not know from which corner to turn over a map from two hundred years ago, telling the new government that the land belonged to the church and that they had no right to dispose of it.
The new government really did not expect it, but it was to recover a piece of land, but it caused such a sensational reaction.
They could not ignore this monstrous public opinion, but acquiesced to the behavior of Osman Kalin, changed the original plan, and Osman Kalin and his vegetable garden were truly "free" from then on.
From winter to spring, Osman Karin guarded the vegetable garden for countless spring and autumn.
Decades have passed, generations have come and gone, and tall buildings have long been built around, but Osman Kalin has remained in his vegetable garden, refusing to give his later efforts to the developer.
Although the family did not have the ownership of the land, they did not know the right to use it in what year and month, and the developers had no way to do it.
Osman Kalin died in 2018 at the age of 96. After his death, the vegetable garden and the tree house inside were preserved and introduced to students by the high school art teacher as a world-famous building.
People tell the story behind it over and over again, saying that it symbolizes an indomitable spirit.
What kind of indomitable spirit? Perhaps, it is in that turbulent environment that you can do your own spirit without hesitation.
For Osman Kalin, there was nothing more secure than the crops in front of him, and being able to live well was the common aspiration of the people of that era.
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