Berlin Wall Escapes1961–1989

16 August 1961 · Guards who fled · Bernauer Straße

Two policemen vanish from the Kobold works

The day after Conrad Schumann's jump, two Volkspolizei officers said to be his friends disappeared from their post on the Kobold works site at Bernauer Straße and went to the West.

Sunny street corner with a grass strip and path in front, low apartment buildings behind, and on the right a white gable wall labelled 'Bernauer Straße' with a large black-and-white mural and a row of photo panels.
The corner of Bernauer Straße and Brunnenstraße in 2022, a few doors from the site of the Kobold works near No. 19, where the two policemen were posted in 1961 Photo: Francesco Adami. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Rudolf K. and Reinhardt R. had joined the Berlin Bereitschaftspolizei only in spring 1961 and had been sent with their units to guard the new border. According to the Berlin Wall Memorial they are said to have been friends of Conrad Schumann, who had jumped the wire on 15 August.

On the following day the two were posted on the grounds of the Kobold works, near Bernauer Straße 19. Because the buildings on Bernauer Straße at this point had been destroyed in the war, only a fairly low wall stood on the border line.

When the guard was changed at midnight, a comrade discovered that both men were gone. The border troops were unable to establish how, or why, the two had gone to the West.

Sources

Historians and memorials

Facts checked against the sources: September 2026

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Berlin Experiences, “Two policemen vanish from the Kobold works”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/rudolf-k-reinhardt-r-kobold-werk-1961/ (accessed [date]).

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