16 August 1965 · False papers and disguises · Checkpoint Charlie
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.
According to West Berlin papers, he crept up to the bus while the passport officers checked its papers on the driver's side, and stayed in its blind spot as far as the last barrier. The guard at the exit saw a man of about 23 reach West Berlin while the bus was being cleared at the barrier and then walk on alone; he assumed the man 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
Whose account is this? Told from a GDR record only: documents of the GDR’s police, Stasi or border troops. No other account of the event is cited.
GDR records
- Jahrgang 1965: Flucht eines Kameramannes am Checkpoint CharlieStasi-Unterlagen-Archiv (Die DDR im Blick der Stasi)
Facts checked against the sources: September 2026
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Cite this page
Berlin Experiences, “In the shadow of a tourist bus at Checkpoint Charlie”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/checkpoint-charlie-bus-shadow-1965/ (accessed [date]).
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