"Lüko Willms" schreef

: Am 10.01.2012 00:01, schrieb Colin Youngs:
: During that day trip, I was twice approached in the street in East
Berlin by
: "agents provocateurs" asking me to exchange DDR-Mark for DM.

: What made you sure that it was an "agent provocateur"?

A man came up to me as I walked along the street soon after leaving Bahnhof
Friedrichstrasse. He said to me (in German) something like "you look as if
you come from the Bundesrepublik". He then asked if I was willing to
change some DM for DDR-Mark.

I speak German and said no, I am British, and that isn't allowed, so he
walked away.

At the end of the day, on my way back to Friedrichstrasse, I was waiting to
cross the road at a street corner where a policeman was directing the
traffic. Another man approached me, again asking if I would change money,
and again I refused.

At the time, I did think the first man was simply an ordinary citizen
wanting to obtain some DM on the black market.

However, I was more than a little suspicious the second time it happened.
It did not seem to me that an "ordinary citizen" would want to engage in a
black market currency transaction in clear view of a policeman only a few
metres way ...

Colin Youngs
Brussels