Treehouse on the Berlin Wall - a podcast by BBC World Service

from 2023-08-03T09:00

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In the 1980s, a Turkish worker in Germany, Osman Kahlin, provoked controversy when he turned a patch of disputed land against the Berlin Wall into a makeshift farm.

The land was owned by East Germany, but lay on the Western side of the wall due to a quirk in the wall's hurried construction.

Kahlin fought a running battle with both East and West German police to keep hold of the land, and kitted it out with a fully functioning treehouse that became a local symbol of resistance to authority.

Alex Eccleston speaks to Osman's son, Mehmet. A Whistledown production for BBC World Service.

(Photo: Osman's treehouse. Credit: Schlemmer/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

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