22 April 1966 · Guards who fled · The Spree between Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain
Two guards climb the barrier at the Puschkinallee with a bench
Two soldiers of Border Regiment 37 on duty at the Puschkinallee in Treptow climbed the barrier into West Berlin with a bench from the grounds of the VEB OLW Treptow, taking their submachine guns; the line of their post's speaking set was found cut.
On 22 April 1966 a post leader born in 1944 and a guard born in 1945, both soldiers of Border Regiment 37, were on duty at the Puschkinallee in Treptow from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. At about 8.20 p.m. the border telephone between the Lohmühlenplatz and the Puschkinallee went dead.
Two men sent to check the line found the tower empty and the wire of the speaking set cut. According to the Stasi report the two guards had deserted to West Berlin shortly after 9 p.m., taking their submachine guns with 60 rounds each, a flare pistol and binoculars. They had fetched a bench from the grounds of the VEB OLW Treptow and used it to climb the barrier. Officers had checked them unseen between 8.30 and 9 p.m. and found them at their post.
An Unteroffizier who came to the tower saw five or six people on the West Berlin side and fired four shots into the air as a signal. The report says about 15 shots from a submachine gun were then fired from West Berlin at the tower, shattering its window; the shooters were not seen.
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. 319/66 über eine Gruppenfahnenflucht aus dem GR 37, 1. Grenzbrigade, im Abschnitt Berlin-Treptow, Puschkinallee am 22.4.1966DDR im Blick (Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv)
Facts checked against the sources: November 2026
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Cite this page
Berlin Experiences, “Two guards climb the barrier at the Puschkinallee with a bench”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/puschkinallee-two-guards-bench-1966/ (accessed [date]).
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