29 August 1986 · Driving through
Gravel truck through Checkpoint Charlie
Truck driver Hans-Joachim Pofahl, his partner and their eight-month-old baby smashed through Checkpoint Charlie in a truck loaded with five tonnes of gravel.
Hans-Joachim Pofahl, a 32-year-old professional truck driver, had applied to leave the GDR in 1985 for political and professional reasons. Rather than wait years for an answer, he decided on a breakthrough: 'Better five minutes of fear than four years of waiting.'
On 29 August 1986 he drove a truck loaded with five tonnes of gravel at about 60 km/h through the barriers at the Friedrichstraße/Zimmerstraße crossing. He and his 26-year-old partner crouched down in the cab, together with their eight-month-old baby.
The truck broke through the barriers and an alarm siren sounded. The automatic locking system needed exactly 13 seconds to close, which was too late.
No shots were fired. The windscreen was smashed and the headlights and front were damaged, but all three reached West Berlin.
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