17 August 1961 · Guards who fled
Günter D. crawls under the wire while his partner sleeps
On 17 August 1961 the police found that riot-police cadet Günter D. had crawled under the barbed wire at Grüneck in Altglienicke while the second guard on the post was asleep, taking a pistol without ammunition. It was discovered at 6.05 a.m.
At 7.55 a.m. on 17 August 1961 the Treptow police logged the suspected desertion of a member of the Karl-Marx-Stadt riot police in the area of base X, discovered at 6.05 a.m. At 1.45 p.m. they added the details: Anwärter (cadet) Günter D., born in Chemnitz in 1943, of the 8th Bereitschaft Karl-Marx-Stadt, had crawled under the barbed wire at 'Alt-Glienicke, Hohe Siedlung, Grüneck' while the second guard on the post was asleep. It was only discovered during a check.
He took a Makarov pistol with him, but no ammunition. The Stasi took over the case.
Sources
- Stab. Präsidium der Volkspolizei Berlin - Abt. Information - Journal der Handlung, 17. August 1961Chronik der Mauer (document: Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 303/26.1/239)
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Related escapes
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
Ulrich H. goes into the bushes and does not come back
On the evening of 16 August 1961 Ulrich H., born 1942, a riot policeman on patrol between the Rudower Chaussee control point and the Kiesberg, said at about 8.30 p.m. that he was going into the bushes to relieve himself. He did not come back: he had deserted with his carbine, leaving his helmet and raincoat.
21 August 1961
Under the wire on the sewage fields between control points 3 and 4
At 9.10 p.m. on 21 August 1961 a riot-police post leader born in 1942, on duty on the sewage fields between control points 3 and 4, said he needed to relieve himself, pushed up the border wire and crawled through, taking his submachine gun and the post's logbook with him.
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.
