15 November 1977 · False papers and disguises
In a US Air Force uniform at Checkpoint Charlie
An East Berlin musician tried to leave through Checkpoint Charlie dressed as a US Air Force NCO, driven there by the American sergeant who had supplied the uniform — but the Stasi was waiting.
Helmut Eggebrecht, 29, an electrician in the music shop 'Takt und Ton' in the Rathauspassage, had decided in 1976 to leave the GDR and work as a freelance musician in the West.
In October 1977 he met a US Air Force sergeant stationed in Wiesbaden who was working in West Berlin and came into the shop to buy instruments. The American agreed to get him a uniform; in return he received a violin worth about 1,000 marks and smuggled instruments worth about 10,000 marks to West Berlin for him. He also coached Eggebrecht on how to behave at the crossing.
On the evening of 15 November 1977 the sergeant drove Eggebrecht, in the uniform of a US Air Force NCO, in an American forces car to the Friedrich-/Zimmerstraße crossing. At about 20:25 Stasi officers identified him 'on the basis of existing information' and arrested him.
Eggebrecht was charged with illegal border crossing. The GDR foreign ministry was advised to protest to the US embassy.
Sources
- Jahrgang 1977: Fluchtversuch eines Ostberliners mithilfe einer US-Uniform 2Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv (Die DDR im Blick der Stasi)
- Jahrgang 1977: Fluchtversuch eines Ostberliners mithilfe einer US-Uniform 1Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv (Die DDR im Blick der Stasi)
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