7 January 1964 · Tunnels · Bernauer Straße
The first Bernauer Straße 97 tunnel ends in a coal yard
The first tunnel from a bakery cellar at Bernauer Straße 97 surfaced in a coal yard in view of the guards; three young women got through before it was discovered.
In 1963 escape helpers, among them Wolfgang Fuchs, started digging from the cellar of a closed bakery at Bernauer Straße 97 in West Berlin, under the street towards East Berlin. The work took about five months.
The tunnel did not come out where intended: it ended in a coal yard directly behind the border barriers, in view of the guards. It was discovered on 8 January 1964 and the helpers had to abandon it.
The evening before, three young women had been able to escape through it. A memorial plaque at Bernauer Straße 97 says that after the discovery the Stasi made the tunnel impassable by throwing a grenade into it. Later in 1964 the same group dug a second tunnel from the same bakery – the famous Tunnel 57.
Sources
- Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer – Bereich B: Die Zerstörung der Stadt (Orientierungsplan und Ereignismarken), section "Fluchttunnel"Stiftung Berliner Mauer
- Tunnel escapes – Digital Guide, Berlin Wall MemorialStiftung Berliner Mauer
- Tunnel – Digital Guide, Berlin Wall MemorialStiftung Berliner Mauer
- Fluchttunnel Bernauer Straße (Gedenktafel, Bernauer Straße 97)Gedenktafeln in Berlin (Aktives Museum / Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand)
- Auffinden eines Tunnelobjekts in Berlin, Strelitzer Straße (report of 9 January 1964)Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv (DDR im Blick)
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Related escapes
3 October 1964 – 5 October 1964
Tunnel 57
57 East Berliners crawled through a 145-metre tunnel dug by West Berlin students under Bernauer Straße. The escape ended in a shoot-out in which border guard Egon Schultz was killed; records opened after 1990 showed the fatal shots came from a fellow GDR soldier.
February 1963
The betrayed second tunnel from Bernauer Straße 78
Tunnel 29's builders dug again from the same cellars; on breakthrough day Stasi officers lay in wait at Brunnenstraße 45. The diggers noticed in time, but 14 would-be escapees and three couriers were arrested.
24 May 1963
The betrayed Kremmener Straße tunnel, dug from East to West
East Berliners dug a 45-metre tunnel from a disused bakery cellar at Kremmener Straße 15 almost to Bernauer Straße before it was discovered in May 1963; 19 people were jailed.
July 1963
Betrayed a few metres short: the tunnel to Eberswalder / Oderberger Straße
A tunnel from the former freight yard towards the corner house at Eberswalder and Oderberger Straße had to be abandoned a few metres short in July 1963 after the plan was betrayed and two diggers were arrested in East Berlin.