9 April 1962 · Driving through

A cement lorry through the wall in Boyenstraße

On 9 April 1962 a lorry loaded with cement broke through the wall in Boyenstraße. It got stuck with most of it still on the eastern side, but the two men on board ran into West Berlin unhurt.

A double row of cobblestones set into paving with a metal plate reading 'Berliner Mauer 1961–1989'.
Bronze plate and cobblestone line marking the course of the Wall in Boyenstraße at the corner of Chausseestraße (2005) Photo: Angela Monika Arnold, Berlin. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

On 9 April 1962 a lorry loaded with cement drove from East Berlin through the wall in Boyenstraße, on the sector border with Wedding.

The lorry got stuck with most of it still on East Berlin territory. The two men inside climbed out and ran on foot into West Berlin.

Neither was hurt. The border guards fired three shots only when the two men were already about 100 metres inside West Berlin.

Sources

  1. Report of the West Berlin Schutzpolizei for April 1962Chronik der Mauer (document: Polizeihistorische Sammlung des Polizeipräsidenten in Berlin)

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