The Aagaard Tunnel

The Aagaard family lived at Ottostraße 7 in Glienicke/Nordbahn, with the border to Hermsdorf in West Berlin right at their garden fence. Fearing forced resettlement, they decided in summer 1962 to dig a tunnel together with friends from Dresden.

Digging began on 5 October 1962 beneath the terrace door of the living room. With no cellar, the family built false walls and ceilings and hid about 25 cubic metres of sand in them, as well as in drawers, gutters, cupboards and bathtubs. Lucie Aagaard even expanded her hairdressing salon to give the impression that the family meant to stay.

The breakthrough to Veltheimstraße came on 8 March 1963, after about 50 metres had been dug, mostly by hand. On the night of 9–10 March 1963 (the Berliner Zeitung says 10–11 March), 13 people went through the tunnel; the 70-year-old grandmother was pulled along on an air mattress. They waited at the exit until West Berlin police arrived, and were out by 4 a.m. The escape was only noticed when customers queued outside the empty salon on Monday morning.

The tunnel was archaeologically excavated in 2011.