30 May 1975 · Hidden in vehicles · Checkpoint Charlie
A doctor's family in the boot of a US sergeant's Cadillac
On the evening of 30 May 1975 a US Army staff sergeant drove an East German doctor, his wife and son through Checkpoint Charlie in the boot of his 1969 Cadillac. The East German guards apparently noticed nothing; US military police found the family and took the sergeant into custody on the western side.
US Army Staff Sergeant Charles L. Peak entered East Berlin through Checkpoint Charlie at 6 p.m. on 30 May 1975 in his 1969 Cadillac, which was registered with the US forces. Shortly afterwards a military police officer went to the checkpoint and found that Peak had been let through without being properly registered by the MPs on duty; the telegram's text is partly lost at this point and mentions a team of military police investigators.
At 9.55 p.m. Peak drove back out, apparently without being detected by the East German guards. On the western side his car was immediately directed into an area out of sight of the East German personnel, and a quick check revealed three people in the boot: an East German doctor, his wife and their son. Peak and the MPs on duty were taken into custody, and the refugees were taken to the Marienfelde refugee centre. They flew to Frankfurt on 31 May.
The refugees and a relative who met them said that 42,000 Deutschmarks had been paid through an intermediary. A first rendezvous on 3 May had failed because the family could not make it, and on 29 May the helpers had not turned up. The investigation found that Peak had used forged travel authorisations and that his car had been fitted with adjustable load-levelling shock absorbers, so that the rear would not sink visibly under the extra weight.
Peak and two specialists who had collaborated with him were punished and transferred out of Berlin; the two were discharged. Their testimony implicated seven more US soldiers in at least four further, undetected escapes from East Berlin in March and April 1975 with the complicity of checkpoint MPs. The Mission reported that the case had not come to the attention of the press.
Sources
- Exfiltration in U.S. forces vehicle (telegram 1975USBERL01058, 2 June 1975)US National Archives, Access to Archival Databases (Central Foreign Policy Files, RG 59)
- Exfiltration in U.S. forces vehicle (telegram 1975USBERL01192, 20 June 1975)US National Archives, Access to Archival Databases (Central Foreign Policy Files, RG 59)
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