A second tunnel from Heidelberger Straße 35 – Boris Franzke's last

In March 1962 a tunnel from Heidelberger Straße 35 in Neukölln to the house at no. 75 on the Treptow side had brought out dozens of people before the Stasi discovered it and the escape helper Heinz Jercha was shot. In spring 1963 helpers, among them Boris Franzke, dug a new tunnel along the same route.

According to TF-Mapping, the border guards did not notice the digging, and the tunnel broke through on 8 April 1963. Franzke was the first to reach the cellar on the eastern side. While he waited behind a cellar door, two armed NVA soldiers on patrol crossed the courtyard towards him and turned into the stairwell only at the last moment.

Up to 20 people escaped through the tunnel, which was only about 50 by 60 centimetres across. Among them was a woman with a baby who was too frightened to crawl into the narrow passage. Franzke took the child and crawled after her, and mother and child were reunited on the western side.

A day later a resident found the forced cellar door and reported it. The Stasi dug out the tunnel, which had now been used twice. According to TF-Mapping and neukoellner.net, the GDR border troops then dug a trench about 2.5 metres deep along the Heidelberger Straße, which ended tunnelling between Treptow and Neukölln. It was the last tunnel for Boris Franzke, who later became a master painter.