3 December 1978 · Hidden in vehicles
Heide-Marie H. is found in a car boot at Drewitz at midnight
On 3 December 1978 the photographer Heide-Marie H. climbed into the boot of a West German friend's car at an agreed spot on the transit route. At midnight at the Drewitz crossing the friend had to open the boot; both were arrested. The day before, the same friend had brought her partner over the border in the boot.
Heide-Marie H., a photographer born in 1946, and her partner no longer felt safe in the GDR in the mid-1970s. A friend from West Germany offered to take them out in his car over the transit route to West Berlin or West Germany. He first brought her partner over the border successfully, hidden in the boot.
On the next day, 3 December 1978, it was her turn. She climbed into the boot at an agreed spot on the transit route. When the car reached the Drewitz crossing at midnight, the friend had to open the boot and she was discovered. Both were arrested on the spot.
She was sentenced to 22 months for 'Republikflucht im schweren Fall' (paragraph 213). Released into the GDR under the amnesty of autumn 1979, she was allowed to leave for the West in October 1980.
Sources
Whose account is this? Told from a witness account only.
Witness accounts
- Bericht eines Opfers der Verfolgung durch die Stasi (Rückblick, 2005): 'Aussteigen! Die Reise ist zu Ende!' (from Gabriele Schnell, Das 'Lindenhotel', 3rd ed., Ch. Links 2009, pp. 132–39)German History in Documents and Images (German Historical Institute Washington)
Facts checked against the sources: November 2026
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Cite this page
Berlin Experiences, “Heide-Marie H. is found in a car boot at Drewitz at midnight”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/heide-marie-h-car-boot-drewitz-1978/ (accessed [date]).
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