In 128 days, the escape helpers dug this 135 meter long tunnel from West to East Berlin Photo: BILD archive
From the BZ editorial team
60 years ago, a spectacular escape to the West took place on Bernauer Strasse.
Sliding into a dark hole, then kneeling through the mud.
A woman in a Dior dress crawls through the muddy tunnel. Another has her baby with her and her little daughter. The child struggles. But everyone comes to the other side. Into freedom.
29 people flee to West Berlin on September 14th and 15th, 1962. Through a tunnel that led under the wall on Bernauer Strasse.
It’s one of those Cold War stories that seems almost unbelievable today. But it is documented, because the tunnel builders sold the film rights to the US broadcaster NBC. A camera team accompanied the men who dug 135 meters underground for 128 days.
This photo went around the world in September 1962! A baby lies screaming in the arms of its overjoyed father. It is the moment when the child came through the tunnel to the West Photo: BILD archive
The tunnel of the brave! It all started with the Italian students Gigi and Mimmo, who wanted to help their East Berlin friend Peter escape. Peter had studied with Gigi in West Berlin at the University of the Arts. But after the Wall was built in August 1961, the commute between East and West came to an end. Since Peter and his wife wanted to flee with their child, his helpers pursued the idea of the tunnel.
In hindsight, it seems ridiculous that students would dig in an old factory building on Bernauer Strasse in the direction of Mitte. Gigi, Mimmo and their helpers were lucky – other tunnels were discovered prematurely and their escape to the west was thwarted.
A plaque in front of the house on Bernauer Strasse commemorates the successful escape Photo: OTFW