16 August 1965 · False papers and disguises
In the shadow of a tourist bus at Checkpoint Charlie
A young man walked out of the Checkpoint Charlie control area unchecked, keeping to the blind side of a West German coach full of American tourists.
Late in the morning of 16 August 1965 a coach of the 'Bayern-Express' carrying American tourists was being checked on its way out of East Berlin at the Friedrichstraße crossing. Traffic was heavy.
The passport officers stood on the driver's side. A young man of about 23 moved along the other side of the bus, always in its shadow, as far as the last barrier, and then walked on alone into West Berlin. A guard saw him but assumed he belonged to the coach.
West Berlin papers wrote that he had squeezed through a gap of about 20 cm between the bus wheels and the wall. Most said he was a television cameraman who knew the crossing well; the BZ described him as a 20-year-old apprentice concrete worker. The Stasi could not identify him and ruled out the cameramen who had filmed there.
The Stasi ordered that buses be cleared one at a time and guarded on both sides as they left, and disciplined the head of the passport control unit.
Sources
- Jahrgang 1965: Flucht eines Kameramannes am Checkpoint CharlieStasi-Unterlagen-Archiv (Die DDR im Blick der Stasi)
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