Four riot-police cadets slip away from the barrier works at Schönefeld

In the days after 13 August units of the Bereitschaftspolizei, the GDR's barracked riot police, were deployed to secure the border around West Berlin. The heavy machine-gun company of the Lehrbereitschaft Potsdam, a training unit, was doing engineering work in the area of the Schönefeld control point.

On 16 August 1961 four Unterwachtmeister of this company, all NCO cadets, went over to West Berlin from these works. A Stasi report of 20 August on the desertions of the first week blamed the company commander, who had let the men drift out of his sight during the work. Nobody missed them at first. The desertion came to light only after children told the guards that they had seen riot policemen on West Berlin ground, and a roll call was held.

The Stasi counted 24 desertions from the units deployed around West Berlin between 13 and 20 August; four of them came from this company. It noted that West Berlin customs officers and youths had repeatedly called on the men in this section to come over, shouting things like: throw it all down and come across, we have decent motorbikes, mopeds and cars. The situation report of 17 August already named the Lehrbereitschaft Potsdam as a focal point ('Schwerpunkt') of the desertions, with four NCO cadets gone on 16 August alone.