21 September 1977 · Hidden in vehicles · Treptow and Neukölln
Two brothers in the luggage hold of a French army tour bus
On 21 September 1977 two young East German brothers crawled into the unlocked luggage hold of a French military tour bus parked at the Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park, and rode in it to West Berlin.
On 21 September 1977 a French military tour bus was parked at Treptower Park in East Berlin while its French army passengers looked at the Soviet War Memorial. Against his instructions the French driver left the bus, supposedly to buy something at a tourist stand, and he had also left the baggage compartment unlocked.
Two young East German brothers later turned up at the Marienfelde refugee centre and said they had crawled into the French military bus at Treptow and had used it to get to West Berlin.
The French established that the brothers had come to Treptow in a lorry, which by 3 October was no longer where it had been parked for the escape. The French were suspicious of the driver and worried that the East Germans might realise a French bus had been used; the French deputy political adviser raised the matter with his American and British colleagues on 4 October.
The US Mission commented that 55 escapes to West Berlin had taken place in August 1977 and about 30 in September, and that one or two people seemed to reach West Berlin roughly every day.
Sources
- French exfiltration case (telegram 1977USBERL02587, 5 October 1977)US National Archives, Access to Archival Databases (Central Foreign Policy Files, RG 59)
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