Syrian helped GDR refugees

Germany's Foreign Office tweeted the original document from 1989 on its Twitter account late on Thursday, confirming that a Syrian man had donated 2,000 Syrian pounds - 255 deutschmarks at the time - to help East German refugees who were trying to reach West Germany via Hungary and Czechoslovakia just ahead of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The document was originally tweeted last year by the team behind the @Mauerfall89 handle, which commemorates the fall of the Berlin Wall. It was picked up again by Berlin activist Martin Speer on Thursday.

But while his and the original tweet attracted little attention, the Foreign Office's tweet confirming the story later on Thursday was retweeted well over 500 times before midday Friday.

The document notes that "to fully appreciate this donation" it was worth noting that the money the unnamed Syrian man donated was more than many people take home in a month in Syria.

It says that "a Syrian national" had come to the German embassy in Damascus, saying that he was moved by the plight of the thousands of Germans fleeing the communist East German regime to West Germany in the summer and autumn of 1989 - just before the Berlin Wall fell in November that year.