this is a story i wrote for class. I had to write a historical fiction story based in the cold war. so, i did.


This is the story of a relatively average man in height, weight, and moral stature. However, this man would soon become a hero to the people. This man is not terribly adventurous, however, every day he walks for hours inside the “Do not cross” line in-between the berlin wall and West Berlin. This is not done out of some sense of adventure or for possible escape, rather this is the job of a government brick shiner. In order to keep morale up without actually changing anything, the government at least tries to keep the wall looking somewhat decent, which requires quite a few brick shiners, since there is quite a bit of wall to shine.

Today, Dimitry the brick shiner walks out of his relatively small apartment near the Berlin wall to find a hole put in it where people had escaped the night before. Upset by the sight of the hole in his previously well-kept wall, Dimitry quickly ran to the nearest phone and called a maintenance crew. The maintenance chief picked up after a few too many rings, possibly fifty or sixty. “Hello, comrade Vieske’s speaking, you have reached the united communist maintenance department… how may I help you comrade?” Dimitry, still flabbergasted, yelled, “There is a hole in my wall! And it looks TERRIBLE!” Comrade Vieske, thinking this was a joke, hung up the phone and resumed reading his favorite comic strip, Andy Capp. This comic stripped was banned in Soviet countries, but a fellow comrade also enjoyed the witty dialogue of the lazy Andy Capp and had been sneaking comics in for the past several years.

After regaining his mental composure, dimity began his day of brick shining. Planes began to fly overhead to drop supplies west of the wall due to the supply block the soviets had been putting around West Berlin. Dimitry usually enjoyed singing his favorite songs to himself and occasionally during a smoke break learning popular communist dance moves that were all the rage back in Stalingrad. Today was an unusually distracting day and Dimitry was pondering world events that were weightier than his usual subject of thought. He found himself wondering what the outcome would be of this great conflict that had been going on for a number of years without any real fighting between the east and the west. Dimitry quickly realized it was not his place to doubt the outcome of the Union, so, he continued brick shining, but sang louder to try and cover up the noise of the planes.
After a long day of brick shining, Dimitry returned to his modest apartment to listen to CNN, the Communist News Network’s evening broadcast. After hearing of the thrilling expansion of the Union, and how the western ideals of capitalism were failing, and the miserable western civilian populace that was oppressed by the democratic governments in the west, he was strangely happy. Being reassured of the superiority of the Union and its living conditions, there was no longer any doubt in his mind about the outcome of the world. Then he realized: “This is the government channel.” The implications of this tremendous realization were interrupted when he also happened to realize that his eggs and ham were burning! Stalin would be ashamed if a comrade wasted the luxury of eggs and ham that were given by the people’s government! After the news and supper, it was time to sleep and rest for another day of work, serving the glorious people’s government!

Dimitry woke to the of screaming, yelling, and the sound of his fan catching fire, which was completely unrelated to the riot taking place in the street next to his apartment, probably faulty wiring, however no one will admit that the Union is incapable of making fans that last like the fans of the west do.

Dimitry quickly looked out his window after screaming a bit from burning his hands while throwing his night stand that had caught fire from the faulty fan out his window. This however, was a very consequential mistake. The riot going on beneath his modest apartment, in the not-so-modest year of 1953, were small parts of a large chain of riots going on across East Germany due to the government not paying employees when production quotas were not met. The riot saw this faulty flaming fan and night stand going into the streets as the action of a not so average rebel! The riot police quickly figured out which apartment the furniture came out of and moved to arrest Dimitry. From now on, Dimitry’s days were no longer very average and in the eyes of people he was a not so average man anymore, but a signal of rebellion and hope. Screaming and hurling flaming furniture into the streets became a way to show your defiance, to show you are not passive; this became a symbol of freedom and this is how Dimitry became a hero to the people.