You are an arrogant prick who has no clue what it means to be thrown in jail for requesting a visa. Yes, people did get out. But the flippancy with which you say, essentially, "I would have been better than all those other people who didn't make it out or were jailed for daring to ask" is troubling.

If he had lived then, he wouldn't have requested a visa. People smart enough to be on hacker news would also be smart enough to build a simple hot air ballon, or use any of the other was to escape detailed innthe museum at check point charlie.

Spoken like someone whose never set foot outside the Western world.

The main reason this sort of attitude pisses me off is because it assumes -- arrogantly -- that hundreds of thousands of people stayed in the USSR because they were not as determined/motivated as some kid on HN. You simply have no clue how uninformed you are about the reality of that situation at that time.

Hiding under a train carriage to escape the country? Are you kidding!? Try it some time, it's harder than you might think.

While your "pissed-off"-ness may be overstated for HN, I very much appreciate your comment. Thanks.

My (Jewish) great-grandmother left the USSR in the late 1910's hidden in a hay cart at the bottom of a freight ship. I wouldn't be here today if not for that feat.

There wasn't USSR in 1910, it was called a Russian Empire then.

Ah, my mistake. I believe it was pre and right around the revolution, so it was certainly the Russian Empire, not the USSR.

Dude, this is as obvious as hiding your key under your doormat. They checked for that with dogs, flashlights and the like. Also, USSR track width was different than anyone elses, so carriages had to be moved between platforms with a crane.