20 August 1961 · Guards who fled
A militia man deserts from the wire detail at Zimmerstraße
On the morning of 20 August 1961 a member of a workers' militia unit, a DBD party official, left the wire detail he was working with at the corner of Zimmerstraße and Wilhelmstraße and went over to West Berlin without his weapon.
On 20 August 1961, at about 9.45 a.m. according to the Stasi (9.55 according to the police journal), a member of the Kampfgruppen, the GDR's factory militia, deserted to West Berlin at the corner of Zimmerstraße and Wilhelmstraße. The police journal describes him as a member of the 1st Hundertschaft of the 8th general battalion who was working with the wire detail and went over without a weapon. The Stasi report names him as Günther Gedike, deputy head of the organisation department in the party executive of the Demokratische Bauernpartei Deutschlands (DBD).
He was one of four members of the security forces whose desertion to West Berlin the Stasi recorded for 20 August.
Sources
- Jahrgang 1961: Lage nach dem Bau der Berliner Mauer (4) – Bericht Nr. 466/61, 21. August 1961Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv (DDR im Blick)
- Stab Präsidium der Volkspolizei Berlin, Abt. Information – Journal der Handlung, 20 August 1961Chronik der Mauer (document: Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 303/26.1/239)
Spotted an error, or know more about this story? Email us a correction or addition
Related escapes
21 August 1961
From a lorry's radiator over the wire near control point 4
On the afternoon of 21 August 1961 a Hauptwachtmeister of the civil air-defence service, who was helping to build the border fence between control points 3 and 4, jumped from the radiator of a vehicle over the barbed wire towards West Berlin.
22 August 1961
Two pioneers go through the fence they were building at Grüneck
On 22 August 1961 two riot-police pioneers who were putting up fences at the Grüneck allotments in Altglienicke went through the wire into West Berlin; the superior present could not stop them.
16 August 1961
Four riot-police cadets slip away from the barrier works at Schönefeld
On 16 August 1961 four NCO cadets of a riot-police training unit, deployed on engineering work near the Schönefeld control point, crossed into West Berlin. Their unit only noticed when children said they had seen riot policemen on the western side.
19 August 1961
Two policemen leave their carbines in Onckenstraße, then wave from a VW
Late on 19 August 1961 two riot policemen deserted from Onckenstraße in Treptow to West Berlin, leaving their carbines behind. Three days later they turned up at the Wiener Brücke in a Volkswagen and waved to a guard of their old unit.
