29 October 1968 · Guards who fled
The boat commander who went ashore at the fairy-tale garden
On a patrol along the Havel at Sacrow, a young boat commander asked to land to relieve himself – right where the land border met the water – and walked into West Berlin.
At about 6 p.m. on 29 October 1968 patrol boat 53 of the boat company of Border Regiment 48 was heading along the Havel near Potsdam-Sacrow towards the border with West Berlin, marked on the water by buoys. On board were the boat commander, a Maat born in 1948, a second Maat and a sailor.
Close to the shore, just on the West Berlin side, stood a house known as 'Esche' with a garden full of fairy-tale figures. The commander first suggested stealing some of the figures, which the others refused. Shortly afterwards he said he needed to relieve himself; the boat landed right at the border fence where the land border ran down to the water, and he went ashore.
About ten minutes later the two others saw a West Berlin police boat moor by the house 'Esche'; three policemen searched the bank and left again. When he had not come back after about 20 minutes, the crew raised the alarm through the border telephone network, since the boat's radio had a broken aerial. The Stasi found no political reasons, noting only that his parents had visited relatives in West Germany and that a girlfriend had recently left him.
Sources
- Jahrgang 1968: Fahnenflucht eines Maates des 48. Grenzregiments – Einzelinformation Nr. 1197/68, 31 October 1968Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv (DDR im Blick)
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