Berlin Wall Escapes1961–1989

19 August 1961 · Guards who fled

Two policemen leave their carbines in Onckenstraße, then wave from a VW

Late on 19 August 1961 two riot policemen deserted from Onckenstraße in Treptow to West Berlin, leaving their carbines behind. Three days later they turned up at the Wiener Brücke in a Volkswagen and waved to a guard of their old unit.

A cobbled street lined with parked cars and apartment blocks on the right, and the Berlin Wall with bare trees on the left.
The Wall along Harzer Straße in November 1986, a short distance from Onckenstraße on the Treptow–Neukölln border Photo: Roehrensee. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Late on the evening of 19 August 1961 two Wachtmeister of the 9th Bereitschaft deserted together from their post in Onckenstraße and crossed into West Berlin, leaving their carbines behind. The East Berlin police journal logged the desertion at 23.25 and later gave the time as about 23.45; the Stasi report of 21 August dated it 20 August, about 0.15, at control points 62–63. The journal names the two as Reinhold B. and Traugott R.

On 22 August the two reappeared. Both police and Stasi recorded that a Volkswagen arrived at the Wiener Brücke; the two deserters, now in civilian clothes, got out and waved to an Unterwachtmeister of the 9th Bereitschaft on duty there. The Stasi cited it as an example of the West's efforts to lure the guards into deserting.

Sources

  1. Jahrgang 1961: Lage nach dem Bau der Berliner Mauer (4) – Bericht Nr. 466/61, 21. August 1961Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv (DDR im Blick)
  2. Stab Präsidium der Volkspolizei Berlin, Abt. Information – Journal der Handlung, 19 August 1961Chronik der Mauer (document: Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 303/26.1/239)
  3. Stab Präsidium der Volkspolizei Berlin, Abt. Information – Journal der Handlung, 22 August 1961Chronik der Mauer (document: Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 303/26.1/239)
  4. Jahrgang 1961: Lage nach dem Bau der Berliner Mauer (6) – Bericht Nr. 475/61, 22. August 1961Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv (DDR im Blick)

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Related escapes

  1. 25 August 1961

    Put back on the front line against advice, a policeman deserts at Harzer Straße

    At about 3 p.m. on 25 August 1961 a riot policeman deserted from a patrol at Harzer Straße and Onckenstraße. Three days earlier the Stasi had told his battalion commander to keep him out of the front line, but the commander had put him back there against his company commander's advice.

    Guards who fled · Reached the West · Treptow-Köpenick (Alt-Treptow) → Neukölln

  2. 28 August 1961

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    At 1.25 a.m. on 28 August 1961 a riot policeman on double patrol in Heidelberger Straße told his partner to go and see what a West Berlin police car was doing, climbed the fence while he was gone and was driven away by the West Berlin police. He was probably Burghardt A., born in 1943.

    Guards who fled · Reached the West · Treptow-Köpenick (Alt-Treptow) → Neukölln

  3. 21 August 1961

    Under the wire on the sewage fields between control points 3 and 4

    At 9.10 p.m. on 21 August 1961 a riot-police post leader born in 1942, on duty on the sewage fields between control points 3 and 4, said he needed to relieve himself, pushed up the border wire and crawled through, taking his submachine gun and the post's logbook with him.

    Guards who fled · Reached the West · Pankow (Rosenthal) → Reinickendorf

  4. 22 August 1961

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    Guards who fled · Reached the West · Treptow-Köpenick (Altglienicke) → Neukölln (Rudow)