Manfred Wenzel swims the Teltow Canal on the first evening

On the late afternoon of 13 August 1961 Manfred Wenzel sat on the bank of the Teltow Canal with Johannisthal behind him and Rudow, in West Berlin, on the far side. He had followed the West Berlin radio (SFB) reports all day as posts were manned and barbed wire rolled out. A committed Christian, he decided that his children should not grow up in a state that built walls.

He had been married to his wife Ursel for two years; they had a son and a second child was on the way. He told her he would go at once and she would follow later, and she agreed. After hours of hesitation, as the sun was setting, he slid into the water and swam, holding a briefcase with a few belongings in his left hand.

Halfway across, a couple on the West Berlin bank stopped and stared at the water. Afraid of being given away, he shouted at them to move on, and they did. When he reached the western bank he was too exhausted to climb out; the same couple came back, helped him up the embankment and took him to a police post. He settled in the Schillersiedlung in Wedding, where he learned of the birth of his daughter, whom he could not see.

After a year of fruitless searching, a fellow student put him in touch with an escape helper who offered to fetch the family by car. A first attempt failed because Ursel Wenzel was not at home when the car came. A few days later the helper drove through Checkpoint Charlie again: the children lay sedated in the boot and Ursel Wenzel sat in the passenger seat with a forged diplomatic passport. After a year apart the family was reunited in West Berlin.