6 September 1961 · Guards who fled
Two young guards let a mother and her baby through at the Puschkinallee
A woman whose husband was waiting on the other side asked the guards to let her through. They told her to come back after dark – and at 8.30 p.m. she crossed with a four-month-old baby and a boy.
On the afternoon of 6 September 1961, at about 5 p.m., a woman came to post 3 at the Puschkinallee near the Freiarchenbrücke in Treptow. Her husband was standing on the opposite, West Berlin side. She asked one of the guards, an Unterwachtmeister of the 8th Bereitschaft of the Volkspolizei, to let her go to him.
He refused at first, but then agreed with her that she should come back at 8.30 p.m. and cross under cover of darkness. When she returned, the two guards let her pass together with her four-month-old child and a boy.
According to the Stasi report, the husband then called the guard over and handed him a bundle of 20-Mark notes, saying it was 2,000 Deutschmarks, and invited him to come to West Berlin as well. The guard gave the money to a young woman he knew to look after. After the change of shift, a third guard reported the affair; 980 DM were seized at the woman's home in Treptow, the guard was given ten days' arrest and the case was handed to the military prosecutor.
Sources
- Jahrgang 1961: Lage nach dem Bau der Berliner Mauer (19) – Bericht Nr. 546/61, 7 September 1961Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv (DDR im Blick)
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