14 August 1961 · By train

The works locomotive that stopped on the line

On 14 August 1961 the driver of a works locomotive at VEB Bergmann-Borsig drove out of the plant towards Wilhelmsruh, stopped on the line and got away to West Berlin.

Night view of a long brick industrial building with rows of windows, some boarded up, behind a construction fence.
A hall of the former Bergmann works (VEB Bergmann-Borsig) in Wilhelmsruh, photographed in 2022; the works locomotive set off from this plant in August 1961 Photo: Ubahnverleih. Wikimedia Commons, CC0

The VEB Bergmann-Borsig works in Wilhelmsruh lay directly on the sector boundary with the West Berlin district of Reinickendorf.

At about 16.50 on 14 August 1961 one of the works' own locomotives left the plant in the direction of Wilhelmsruh. It stopped on the line, and its driver, Wolfgang R. from Basdorf, made off to West Berlin. The Pankow police reported the incident to Volkspolizei headquarters at 17.45.

The police log does not say exactly how he crossed the line.

Sources

  1. Stab PdVP Berlin – Journal der Handlung, 14 August 1961Chronik der Mauer (document: Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 303/26.1/239)

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