26 April 1989 · Driving through
Stolen truck stuck in the death strip at Glienicke
A 21-year-old steelworker broke through the inner wall with a stolen truck but got stuck in the sand of the death strip after hitting a lamp post.
On 26 April 1989 a 21-year-old worker from Bergfelde, employed at the Hennigsdorf steel and rolling mill, drove a stolen KrAZ truck at the border in Glienicke, north of Berlin.
The truck broke through the inner wall and a barbed-wire fence, but it hit a lamp post, knocked it over and got stuck in the sand of the death strip.
A warning shot was fired and he was arrested and taken to the Stasi prison in Potsdam. On 12 July the Potsdam city district court sentenced him to three years and eight months. The Stasi calculated the damage to the 'border security installations' at 12,377.51 marks.
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