27 November 1961 · Driving through
A bus driver and his assistant ram the wire round Steinstücken
An East German bus driver and his assistant rammed their empty bus into the barbed wire round Steinstücken and fled into the exclave; a US helicopter flew them out the following day.
According to a CIA chronology of reports on the Berlin situation, entered under 27 November 1961, an East German bus driver and his assistant rammed their empty vehicle into a section of the barbed wire surrounding Steinstücken and fled into the exclave. They were removed, together with another refugee, by a USCOB helicopter the following day. East German police pulled the bus back into the Zone.
Sources
Whose account is this? Told from a Western official record only.
Western official records
- Weekly Chronology of Reports Concerning the Berlin Situation, received during week of 21 Nov - 27 Nov 1961 (CIA, CIA-RDP79S00427A000200060001-1)CIA CREST (Internet Archive copy of the CIA reading room)
Known from a single report line: the source says no more than this page.
Facts checked against the sources: November 2026
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Cite this page
Berlin Experiences, “A bus driver and his assistant ram the wire round Steinstücken”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/steinstuecken-bus-1961-11-27/ (accessed [date]).
Related escapes
8 October 1961 – 9 October 1961
Refugees who reached Steinstücken are flown out by US helicopter
A CIA chronology records that eight refugees reached the West Berlin exclave of Steinstücken on 8–9 October 1961 and that a US Army (USCOB) helicopter had flown four of them out by 10 October, the rest to follow the next day; a Stasi report counts one person on each of the two days.
27 September 1961
US Army helicopters fly seven refugees out of Steinstücken
Seven people who had slipped into the tiny West Berlin exclave of Steinstücken were flown out to West Berlin in two US Army helicopters.
13 August 1961
A VW Beetle races through the barbed wire at Ackerstraße
On the day the border was sealed, a Beetle from East Berlin drove at full speed through the single roll of barbed wire across Ackerstraße.
16 August 1961
The flower-box lorry at Köpenicker Straße
At 6.30 on 16 August 1961 a driver loaded flower boxes in front of a florist's in Köpenicker Straße and drove back and forth, faking delivery trips. Then he drove straight over the crossing into West Berlin.
