24 October 1966 · Driving through · Checkpoint Charlie
An NCO rams the Checkpoint Charlie barrier in a bakery van
An NVA Unteroffizier on weekend leave stole a bakery delivery van in the Mauerstraße and rammed the first barrier at Checkpoint Charlie; the van skidded, a passport controller fired at it and he was arrested.
At about 1.30 a.m. on 24 October 1966 an NVA Unteroffizier born in 1946, a career soldier and instructor at an NCO training regiment, tried to break through to West Berlin at the Friedrichstraße/Zimmerstraße crossing in a stolen "Granit" delivery van.
He was on weekend leave. According to the Stasi report he took several keys from his father, broke into a van of VEB Großbäckerei Berlin parked in the Mauerstraße and drove down the Friedrichstraße towards the crossing, speeding up just before the first barrier. The impact sent the van skidding onto the left side of the road.
A passport controller fired an aimed shot at the van; the driver ducked under the steering wheel and lost control. He was arrested without resistance. The report says he had received four disciplinary punishments and decided to flee when threatened with another ten days' arrest.
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
- Einzelinformation Nr. 805/66 über eine verhinderte Fahnenflucht mittels Lkw an der GÜST Friedrich-/Zimmerstraße am 24.10.1966DDR im Blick (Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv)
Facts checked against the sources: November 2026
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Cite this page
Berlin Experiences, “An NCO rams the Checkpoint Charlie barrier in a bakery van”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/nco-bakery-van-checkpoint-charlie-1966/ (accessed [date]).
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