16 August 1961 · Driving through · The Spree between Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain
The flower-box lorry at Köpenicker Straße
At 6.30 on 16 August 1961 a driver loaded flower boxes in front of a florist's in Köpenicker Straße and drove back and forth, faking delivery trips. Then he drove straight over the crossing into West Berlin.
Early on 16 August 1961 a lorry stood in front of a florist's shop at Köpenicker Straße 41, close to the crossing point into Kreuzberg. Its driver drove into the yard, loaded flower boxes and told the guards he was making a delivery to Fritz-Heckert-Straße.
He drove to and fro several times, carrying the boxes out and back in again. Then, pretending once more to set off for Fritz-Heckert-Straße, he drove straight over the checkpoint towards West Berlin. The lorry got stuck with burst tyres in the West Berlin barriers. The driver left the lorry and fled into a house on the western side.
The police later found that the lorry's regular driver had reported it stolen. He had parked it the evening before in Liebknechtstraße. When the police checked, they could not find either the owner of the clothing firm the lorry belonged to or the owner of the florist's shop.
Sources
Whose account is this? Told from a GDR record only: documents of the GDR’s police, Stasi or border troops. No other account of the event is cited.
GDR records
- Stab PdVP Berlin – Journal der Handlung, 16 August 1961Chronik der Mauer (document: Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 303/26.1/239)
Facts checked against the sources: September 2026
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Cite this page
Berlin Experiences, “The flower-box lorry at Köpenicker Straße”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/koepenicker-strasse-flower-lorry-1961/ (accessed [date]).
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