In 1988, Michael Schneider, a receptionist at the Hotel Stadt Berlin (today the Park Inn at Alexanderplatz), stole the passport of Morten Bank-Mikkelsen, a young Dane staying there for a dance tournament, after noticing their physical resemblance and intending to use it to cross the border into West Berlin. At the ‘Palace of Tears’ (Tränenpalast), he managed to pass through the GDR authorities, and once in West Berlin, his true identity was discovered, where he was recognized as a refugee from East Germany.