23 March 1966 · Guards who fled
"Now there are two fewer of you!"
Two conscripts on duty at Eberswalder Straße broke open a door in the sight screen, climbed onto the freight-yard wall and jumped into the West; their comrades only noticed when a West Berlin policeman shouted across.

On 23 March 1966 the conscripts Udo S. and Burckhardt B. were posted at Eberswalder Straße. Both were unhappy with border duty, and that afternoon they decided to flee.
They broke open the door in the sight screen at Eberswalder Straße, which took them out of view of the other guards. To the right of the screen they climbed onto the wall of the freight yard and jumped down into the West.

Their escape only came to light when a West Berlin police officer called out to the remaining guards: "Na, jetzt seid ihr ja zwei weniger!" ("Well, now there are two fewer of you!")
Sources
Spotted an error, or know more about this story? Email us a correction or addition
Related escapes
19 March 1966
Two NCOs run for the border at Kohlhasenbrück – one gets through
NVA sergeants Willi Marzahn and Eberhard M. took weapons from their barracks and ran through the death strip near Steinstücken; in a firefight Eberhard M. reached West Berlin, while Marzahn died of a head wound.
25 April 1966
Michael Kollender – a soldier's flight from guard duty
Conscript Michael Kollender left his sentry post in uniform and ran for the Teltow Canal; four guards fired 109 rounds and he died a few metres from the border.
15 August 1961
Conrad Schumann's leap to freedom
Two days after the border was sealed, 19-year-old border policeman Conrad Schumann jumped over the barbed-wire barrier at Bernauer Straße into West Berlin, dropping his submachine gun as he went.

16 August 1961
Two policemen vanish from the Kobold works
The day after Conrad Schumann's jump, two young Volkspolizei officers said to be his friends disappeared from their post on the Kobold works site at Bernauer Straße and reached West Berlin.