6 October 1961 · False papers and disguises
Sewer escape helper Carl-August von Halle walks into a Stasi trap
A West Berlin architecture student who had helped East Germans escape through the sewers was lured into a trap by a Stasi informer and arrested at Friedrichstraße station.
Carl-August von Halle came from Minden in Westphalia and had been studying architecture in West Berlin since 1956. Shortly after the Wall went up in August 1961, the 25-year-old met a school pupil who, together with students of the Technical University, wanted to help people escape. The group had plans of the Berlin sewer system, which could be used as an escape route.
Von Halle and the pupil drove into East Berlin several times to tell people who wanted to flee about the underground routes. With their help numerous GDR citizens reached West Berlin through the sewers, until East Berlin security forces discovered the route and the helpers had to stop.
In September 1961 von Halle met a Potsdam actor in West Berlin who said the Wall had separated him from his family. Von Halle promised to help, tried to obtain a forged passport for the man's wife and travelled to East Berlin several times to deliver letters and prepare the family's escape. When he arrived at Friedrichstraße station on 6 October 1961 he was arrested and taken to the Stasi remand prison in Potsdam. Under interrogation he realised the actor had been working for the Stasi.
On 3 February 1962 the Potsdam-Stadt district court sentenced him to two years and two months for 'continued aiding of flight from the Republic'. In Magdeburg-Sudenburg prison the Stasi offered him early release if he would work for it in the West; he agreed without any intention of doing so and was released to Hannover on 4 December 1962 after 14 months. He never met his handler and returned to his studies in West Berlin. In 1993 the actor publicly admitted to 17 years of work for the Stasi.
Sources
- Fluchthilfe durch die Kanalisation in den Westen – und an die Stasi verraten, 6. Oktober 1961Chronik der Mauer
- DDR-Forschung: Ausstellung „1961. Mauerbau und Geheimpolizei im Bezirk Potsdam“Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften)
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