31 December 1965 · Guards who fled
Two conscripts flee on New Year's Eve at Gartenstraße
On New Year's Eve 1965 two conscript border soldiers posted at Gartenstraße ran round the S-Bahn entrance, forced their way through barbed-wire and mesh fences and jumped down into West Berlin.
Hartmut B. and Günter M. were conscripts serving as border soldiers at Gartenstraße, beside the Nordbahnhof S-Bahn entrance. On New Year's Eve 1965 they decided to flee.
They ran from Gartenstraße around the S-Bahn entrance, got through the barbed-wire and wire-mesh fences there and jumped down into West Berlin.
According to the Berlin Wall Memorial, B. was known for criticising orders, had already been disciplined for it and had said several times that he would not shoot at refugees. M. also had conflicts with his superiors. Their superiors had noted that both preferred reading classical literature to fitting into the 'collective' of the border soldiers.
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