I happened to be reading the Wikipedia article on the Berlin wall, and I came across this bit.
Considering the real Peter Fechter died while no one did anything, this reenactment leaves me feeling somewhat queasy, which probably means it's a good idea.
Non-Wiki source, for Wiki-haters.
From the article:
Seriously wounded, he lay a few yards short of the wall shouting for help. Having seen what had happened, hundreds of citizens of West Berlin gathered, shouting demands at the GDR guards and American soldiers to help Peter, but they did nothing.
I am trying to figure out what American soldiers were supposed to do, ID, with Peter on the East Berlin side of the wall. Were they supposed to jump into East Berlin and get shot at, and thus start a fire fight with the
Volkspolizei? I don't think the Commander of the Berlin Brigade was going to permit that, if it could be helped, since
starting fights with the East Germans was not part of his mission.
FWIW, the VoPos were not kindly disposed toward the folks on the West side of the wall. (It's a wiki cite, so take with such salt as you find necessary.)
When the army and the Volkspolizei erected the Berlin Wall in 1961, it was declared by the East German leadership that it would protect East Germany against the negative elements of Western society, particularly fascist sympathizers (the wall was officially called the "anti-fascist protection rampart") and help on the way to a crime-free workers' state.
This partially came true. In comparison to West Germany, East Germany had almost no crime. This was largely because the Volkspolizei and the Stasi were ruthless in their pursuit of real and alleged criminals and did not have to follow the same procedures as Western police forces.
Maybe an American medic with the standard red-cross-on-white arm band (were one assigned to the guard post) could have been asked to go help him. If you look at how the Wall worked, as a system, the East Germans would have had to agree to let an American into their territory to help Peter. If a medic jumps the wall and renders aid, he is likely to get riddled with bullets if either a slightly trigger happy VoPo doesn't recognize the arm band, or if the local guy in charge of the VoPos has standing orders to shoot people crossing into East Berlin without authorization.
Your post and the link raises a very interesting question: what were the communication procedures between the East and West authorities at the time? Could someone call, on a phone or a radio, right away and ask, plea, for assistance to be rendered?
From a practical point of view, the Volkspolizei were in a position to render aid, and chose not to. What a shame. Why is it significant to note that the "American soldiers did nothing." What were they supposed to do? They were constrained from acting on the East side, the side where they had zero authority to be.
DR
