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BAD AROLSEN, Germany – In the locked attic of a German archive is a dusty file that harks back to a long forgotten chapter of the Cold War — a humanitarian endeavor that, it now emerges, also had a covert side.
Marked "Escapee Program," it contains a list of thousands of names of people who, through cunning, bravery and luck, slipped through the Iron Curtain that divided Europe after World War II and found freedom in the West.
President Harry Truman's administration launched the program in 1952 to rehabilitate and resettle refugees from Eastern Europe, feting them as heroes who defied communist tyranny.
"All of a sudden I turned. Behind me was running the German shepherd. Directly at me. I said, 'that's finished.' It was a trained dog. It was going at the face. Lucky I had this little briefcase. I put it in front of my face. He jumped and hit the briefcase. It was a lucky move, believe me. He hit it with full speed."