10 September 1986 · Driving through
A car rams the closed gate at Drewitz
At about 2.20 a.m. two people drove a car into a closed gate at the Drewitz crossing. Guards fired warning shots and arrested both, as lorry drivers arriving in West Berlin reported.
At about 2.20 a.m. on Wednesday, 10 September 1986, two people rammed a car into a closed gate at the Drewitz crossing, the GDR checkpoint on the autobahn into West Berlin, in an attempt to reach the West.
East German border guards fired three to five warning shots and then arrested the pair. Neither appeared to be injured. West Berlin police knew of the attempt only from lorry drivers who had crossed into West Berlin and described what they had seen; it was not even known whether the two were men or women.
The shooting drew protests in the West. The US mission condemned 'such use of force' as a clear violation of basic human rights, and a West German government spokesman said shooting near such a busy crossing as Drewitz could not be justified.
The attempt came at the end of a summer of escapes in Berlin: UPI listed two border guards who climbed over the Wall on 18 August, a young couple who got across the next night, and a construction worker who crashed a dump truck through Checkpoint Charlie with a woman and a baby on 29 August.
Sources
Whose account is this? Told from a press report only.
Press
Facts checked against the sources: September 2026
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Berlin Experiences, “A car rams the closed gate at Drewitz”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/drewitz-car-ramming-1986/ (accessed [date]).
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