The East German regime went to great lengths to try and prevent people in the German Democratic Republic As a child , CNN 's Fred Pleitgen lived in East Berlin under the watchful eye of the Stasi . His father Fritz , a journalist at a West German TV network , says the Stasi broke into the family flat . Fritz : Stasi 's nightmare was `` an alliance of Western journalists with the East German people '' Fred Pleitgen : The secret police had infiltrated our home and my parents were being spied on by their own government.
As a child , CNN 's Fred Pleitgen lived in East Berlin under the watchful eye of the Stasi . His father Fritz , a journalist at a West German TV network , says the Stasi broke into the family flat . Fritz : Stasi 's nightmare was `` an alliance of Western journalists with the East German people '' Fred Pleitgen : The secret police had infiltrated our home and my parents were being spied on by their own government.