28 June 1981 – 29 June 1981 · Hidden in vehicles
An Erfurt dentist family in a US Army Ford – the six-hour stand-off at Drewitz
Two US soldiers picked up two dentists from Erfurt and their ten-year-old son on the transit motorway. At Drewitz the Soviet commander refused to let the car through; after more than four hours of negotiation the American commander agreed to a joint check of the car.
At 8.35 p.m. on 28 June 1981 a Ford of the US forces stationed in West Berlin passed Marienborn in the military lane for the transit route to West Berlin, driven by a US Army sergeant and a Specialist 4th Class. During a short stop at a car park on the way, GDR surveillance saw them take three GDR citizens into the car.
The car reached the Drewitz checkpoint at about 10.55 p.m. On information from the GDR, the Soviet commander of the checkpoint – which handled Allied military traffic – prevented it from leaving for West Berlin. The US commander of the Dreilinden checkpoint at first flatly refused an inspection, but after negotiations with the Soviets agreed at 3.15 a.m. on 29 June to a joint check of the car. In the boot were a dentist (35) and his wife, also a dentist (29), both from the Medical Academy in Erfurt, and their ten-year-old son.
At 4.25 a.m. the family was handed to the GDR authorities; the parents were arrested and the boy was placed in a children's home in Potsdam. The two soldiers left for West Berlin at 4.50 a.m. in the US commander's car. The Stasi proposed a strong protest to the US embassy. A very similar case followed at Drewitz ten months later (see `may-family-us-volvo-drewitz-1982`).
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 1981: Verhinderung einer Ausschleusung von DDR-Bürgern durch US-Militärangehörige – Information Nr. 325/81, 29 June 1981Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv (DDR im Blick)
Facts checked against the sources: September 2026
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Cite this page
Berlin Experiences, “An Erfurt dentist family in a US Army Ford – the six-hour stand-off at Drewitz”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/erfurt-dentists-us-ford-drewitz-1981/ (accessed [date]).
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