1962 · Over the wall · Glienicker Brücke and Klein Glienicke
A 17-year-old is caught trying to cross through the grounds of the Villa Kampffmeyer
In 1962 the 17-year-old brother of a Potsdam resident tried to reach West Berlin across the grounds of the Villa Kampffmeyer near the Berliner Straße; he was caught and held in the Stasi remand prison in the Lindenstraße.
The Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung's information trail 'Achtung Grenze' on the Potsdam border records the memories of a resident, Frau W., whose doctor's family was allotted a house in the Böcklinstraße near the border area in 1961. In 1962 her brother, then 17, tried to flee to West Berlin across the grounds of the Villa Kampffmeyer near the Berliner Straße.
He was caught and held in the Stasi remand prison in the Potsdam Lindenstraße, where he was mistreated. Frau W. learned little from him about his detention; he never really got over it.
Sources
- Leben am Neuen Garten (Zeitzeugenberichte, Station 3) – Achtung Grenze: Das Sperrgebiet der DDR 1961–1989 (archived)Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung Potsdam (grenze-potsdam.de, via Internet Archive)
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Two girls try to help a friend escape at Lichterfelde-Süd
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