March 1965 · Hidden in vehicles · Checkpoint Charlie
A bookshop assistant leaves in the boot of two French officers' car
In March 1965 a 19-year-old East Berlin bookshop assistant asked two French military officers for help; the next evening they drove her to the West in the boot of their car.
This is a reported escape. It appears in a reputable publication, but its key details could not be checked against a second source. See the note below.
Gabriele Paissoni, by her own account 19 and working in an East Berlin bookshop in 1965, asked two French military officers who came into the shop one day in March whether they could help her. They said 'No problem' and left; the next day they came back and whispered: 'Tonight or never. Meet us in the alley near the shop. Eight-thirty.' She took her passport and a few pieces of jewellery, told her parents she was going to the cinema with a friend, and climbed into the boot of their car in the alley.
She made out the words 'hold your breath' at a first, second and third checkpoint; 'my life changed in 15 minutes', she writes. The officers took her to the home of her uncle, who had left before the Wall was built. She moved to London months later, and did not see her family again in person for 24 years. Her brother never escaped.
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