[...] The couple owned a lake house in Berlin-Friedrichshagen, as well as a sailboat and even a surfboard; they owed their prosperity to a private glassworks. The two had waited years to be allowed to emigrate, and had finally arrived in West Berlin just before November 9. [...] it was all for nothing--the years of waiting, the arguments for and against, the crucial decision to leave and the pain of abandoning their house. Only one thing was certain: the man--now working as a window-washer in the West--would never even begin to approach his former standard of living. [...]