July 1976 · Hidden in vehicles
Marina Prüfer and her son in a car boot
In July 1976 Marina Prüfer, a building draughtswoman from Neuenhagen whose exit application had put her under Stasi surveillance, reached West Berlin with her four-year-old son in the boot of a West German car.
Marina Prüfer, born in Berlin in 1955, grew up as a doctor's daughter in Neuenhagen near Berlin. She was refused the Abitur and the art studies she hoped for and trained as a building draughtswoman. After she applied to leave in the mid-1970s the Stasi watched her. She planned her escape through a friend in West Berlin.
In July 1976 she and her four-year-old son reached West Berlin in the boot of a West German car. In the West she took her Abitur, studied social pedagogy and began working as a painter; in 1992 she was a court artist at the Politburo trials of Erich Honecker and Erich Mielke.
Sources
- DDR-Zeitzeuge Marina PrüferDDR-Zeitzeuge (Koordinierendes Zeitzeugenbüro, Gedenkstätte Berlin-Hohenschönhausen)
Spotted an error, or know more about this story? Email us a correction or addition
Related escapes
10 April 1976
Refugees in the boot of an embassy car: the Zaire attaché and the ARAMCO network
An administrative attaché of Zaire's embassy in East Berlin used his diplomatic car to drive at least eight East Germans to West Berlin in the boot. The operation ended when his courier was arrested at the Friedrichstraße crossing.
16 July 1976
Sealed van of the Mierendorff escape organisation stopped at Staaken
An escape helper from near Hamburg picked up a man, his wife and a drugged child on the transit motorway and hid them in a customs-sealed van with a manipulated seal fitting; followed by two Wartburgs, he was stopped at the Staaken crossing and the van was opened.
July 1979
Kerstin Land and her partner in a car boot
In July 1979 Kerstin Land, a Leipzig student watched by the Stasi after a leaflet action over Wolf Biermann's expatriation, reached West Berlin with her partner in the boot of a West German car.
10 October 1964
A sleeping pill for the four-year-old: the American's Ford at Checkpoint Charlie
An American Lufthansa loader built a hiding place behind the back seat of a Ford to bring out a colleague's cousin and her four-year-old child, who was given a sleeping pill. They were caught at Checkpoint Charlie.
