4 July 1964 · Driving through · Treptow and Neukölln
Four East Berliners crash a stolen army lorry through the wire at Köllnische Heide
In the night to 4 July 1964 four young East Berliners drove a stolen army lorry through the barbed wire near Köllnische Heide station; when it stuck they waded the Heidekampgraben and reached West Berlin under fire.
The Honnefer Volkszeitung reported from Berlin on 4 July 1964 that during the night four young East Berliners drove a stolen GDR army lorry at full speed through the barbed-wire barriers near Köllnische Heide station. When the lorry got stuck they jumped off, waded through the shallow Heidekampgraben and reached West Berlin unhurt, although the border guards fired two bursts from machine pistols.
The West Berlin police took the four, two men of 21 and 23, a 14-year-old and an 18-year-old girl, to the reception camp. About three hours later, around 4 a.m., a crane lorry pushed the vehicle back into the Soviet sector, and a work detail closed the gap in the wire.
Sources
Whose account is this? Told from a press report only.
Press
- Mit Militärwagen durch die Mauer (Funkbericht der HVZ) (Honnefer Volkszeitung, 1964-07-04, p. 1)Honnefer Volkszeitung, via Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (Zeitungsportal)
Known from a single report line: the source says no more than this page.
Facts checked against the sources: November 2026
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Cite this page
Berlin Experiences, “Four East Berliners crash a stolen army lorry through the wire at Köllnische Heide”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/koellnische-heide-army-lorry-1964-07-04/ (accessed [date]).
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