A former local party secretary is caught at the Schönwalde border
In the early hours of 22 June 1968 NVA border guards arrested an organisation instructor of the Rat des Kreises Rathenow, an SED member since 1946 and a former local party secretary of Schönwalde, after he had got past the forward barriers in the Schönwalde section.
According to Stasi report no. 696/68, the man, born 1925 and living in Falkensee, had worked since February 1968 as an organisation instructor at the Rat des Kreises Rathenow and had been an SED member since 1946. From 1955 to 1962 he had been a customs secretary at the Staaken border customs office, from 1962 to 1966 a member of staff of the SED district leadership in Nauen (security department) and from 1966 to 1967 the SED's local party secretary in Schönwalde, so he knew the border line and the barriers there.
On the evening of 21 June 1968 he took the bus to Schönwalde and drank in the inn there. At about 23.50 he left and went into the border area. He had already got past the forward barriers when NVA guards arrested him at about 3.30 on 22 June 1968. The Stasi opened criminal proceedings against him.
The report gives as his reasons his housing situation, drinking and quarrels with his wife.
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. 696/68 über den verhinderten Grenzdurchbruch des [Name], Org.-Instrukteur beim Rat des Kreises Rathenow, am 22. Juni 1968DDR im Blick (Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv)
Facts checked against the sources: November 2026
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Berlin Experiences, “A former local party secretary is caught at the Schönwalde border”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/schoenwalde-rathenow-instructor-arrest-1968/ (accessed [date]).
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