Roofers escape from the Klein Glienicke chapel
Two roofers repairing the chapel roof in the GDR exclave of Klein Glienicke disarmed one of their guards and crossed the Wall with a ladder into Zehlendorf.
Klein Glienicke was a small GDR settlement almost surrounded by West Berlin. In May 1965 the roofs of its chapel and parsonage needed repair, and three workers were given passes allowing them into the border area. Two border soldiers watched them constantly while they worked.
On 7 May 1965 one of the two guards left his post without permission. Two of the roofers took their chance: one disarmed the remaining guard while the other ran towards the Wall carrying a ladder. Warning shots kept the guard from following, and both men got over the Wall into the West Berlin district of Zehlendorf.
The third roofer stayed behind because he did not want to leave his young family. The Stasi nevertheless held him in its Potsdam remand prison in Lindenstraße, where after repeated interrogations he admitted that he had known of the plan and had explained to his colleagues how a weapon worked. In July 1965 he was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison; after the prosecution appealed, the Potsdam district court raised this to two years in November 1965.
The two border soldiers were blamed for making the escape possible through their conduct. A Potsdam military court sentenced them to two years and to six months in prison respectively.
Sources
- Dachdeckerflucht von Klein Glienicke nach Zehlendorf, 7. Mai 1965Chronik der Mauer
- Kapelle Klein GlienickeChronik der Mauer
- Flucht aus der DDR: Über die Mauer hinwegDemokratiegeschichten
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