11 June 1978 – 17 June 1978 · Guards who fled
Two guards in one week dart through the Fichtewiese gate
West Berlin allotment holders reached their gardens in the Fichtewiese exclave through a gate in the Wall, with GDR guards checking their passes. On 11 and 17 June 1978 two of those guards simply ran through the door into the British sector.
The Fichtewiese was one of West Berlin's small exclaves on the Spandau border: a patch of gardens belonging to West Berliners that lay just beyond the Wall. With special GDR passes the owners could go through a gate in the Wall and cross a few metres of ground to their plots, while East German border guards checked their papers.
On 11 June 1978 one of the guards responsible for checking the passes darted through the door into the British sector. According to what the US Mission learned, the whole company of border guards responsible for the area was then relieved from duty.
The replacement unit fared no better. On 17 June 1978 a guard from the new company escaped at precisely the same spot and in the same way. In neither case did his comrades fire at him.
The two escapes were reported in the West Berlin press and were picked up again after a shoot-out involving a Soviet soldier in East Berlin later that month.
Sources
- Flurry of escapees draws attention (telegram 1978USBERL01518, 26 June 1978)US National Archives, Access to Archival Databases (Central Foreign Policy Files, RG 59)
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