An unknown escapee slips past the guards at Gartenstraße
In the early morning of 17 March 1964 an unidentified person got over the border installations at Gartenstraße, about a metre from where the sentries were standing.
Early on the morning of 17 March 1964 an unidentified person crossed the border installations at Gartenstraße and reached West Berlin.
The border troops never established why the sentries did not notice. Their superiors assumed the guards had simply not been paying attention; the memorial text points out that they may equally have looked the other way on purpose.
A border troops report quoted on the memorial marker complained that the sentries "performed a poor border service" and failed to see the border violator climb over the installations about one metre from their post.
Sources
- Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer – Bereich A: Die Mauer und der Todesstreifen (Orientierungsplan und Ereignismarken), marker A 302Stiftung Berliner Mauer
- A 302 – Digital Guide, Berlin Wall MemorialStiftung Berliner Mauer
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