Tunnel to West Berlin!

An East German soldier is killed trying to stop escapers

Built in 1961, the Berlin Wall sealed off the last crossing point over what was then an impenetrable frontier stretching from the far north to the deep south of East Germany, preventing its citizens from leaving for the West. Despite its effectiveness, the Berlin Wall did little to address the root causes of dissatisfaction among East Germans. People therefore viewed it as more of an obstacle — albeit a very dangerous one — than a stop sign, and set about devising ingenious and spectacular ways to go around, under, over, and sometimes even through the border. While some attempted to swim across the North Sea, others took to the skies in hot air balloons; those with contacts to the West arranged to be smuggled over the border in the boot of a car. In Berlin, most would-be escapees took a subterranean approach to freedom, either traversing the sewage system or digging tunnels. There were dozens of such attempts, and at most half were successful. Tunnel 57 was dug, like several others, in Bernauer Strasse in northern Berlin. It enabled 57 people to escape to freedom, hence its name.

Tunnel 57 was dug in 1964 by a group of 35 people from West Berlin. Starting in an empty bakery at 97 Bernauer Strasse (West), it ran 145 metres – the longest of its kind – and emerged in a toilet block in the backyard of a house in East Berlin. By the beginning of October, 57 people – almost half of the planned number – had escaped when the Stasi discovered it. During an operation to capture the West German escape helpers, an East German soldier was accidentally shot by one of his comrades, for which the DDR blamed “Western agents”. The lie was only uncovered after reunification.