Rudi Thurow leads refugees to Steinstücken

Rudi Thurow, born in Leipzig in 1937, had joined the East German border police voluntarily in 1955. When he learned that acquaintances were planning to flee, he did not report them but decided to go with them.

The escape was set for 21 February 1962 on a stretch of border where Thurow himself was on duty. To reduce the danger, he removed the bolts from the border posts' submachine guns. When this was discovered and an alarm was raised, the plan had to be changed: Thurow led the refugees to the border on foot and in uniform, ordering guards he met to other positions on the pretext of an alert.

The group was fired on during the crossing, but nobody was hurt. They reached Steinstücken, a small enclave belonging to West Berlin and surrounded by GDR territory, from where the refugees were flown to West Berlin by American helicopters.

In West Berlin Thurow became an escape helper himself, helping people out through tunnels, in converted vehicles and with forged papers. The Stasi later planned to murder him; the plans failed. He died in Berlin in 2022.