The erection of the
Berlin Wall forced him to drop out of the school he had attended in
West Berlin in 1961 and he was forbidden from taking his Abitur exams in the East for refusing to join the
Free German Youth movement. He then worked as an assistant to a roofer before doing a job training for bricklayer. He is a pacifist. In 1966, for refusing both regular service and
Bausoldat (construction soldier in the
National People's Army), he was brutally beaten and arrested by the
Stasi, and put into prison for eight months where he was starved, tortured, abused and interrogated. Later, he studied
Theology at the theological school in
Berlin, an education he completed in 1974 with two exams. He then worked as a
Lutheran pastor in at Samariterkirche in
Berlin-Friedrichshain and took part in the opposition, such as being the editor of
samizdat publications with
Thomas Welz. It has been claimed that during this period Eppelmann had contact with the
CIA. ==Political career==