7 July 1969 · Hidden in vehicles
The 'Trojan cow' at Drewitz
A 28-year-old woman from Karl-Marx-Stadt was hidden inside a hollow model bull in a wooden crate, but the hiding place was found at the Drewitz crossing.
A 28-year-old woman from Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz) wanted to join her fiancé in West Berlin. He paid two escape helpers 5,000 Deutschmarks in advance, with another 5,000 due on success.
The helpers hollowed out an artificial bull, packed it in a wooden crate and loaded it onto a small truck. The woman hid inside for the drive along the transit autobahn towards West Berlin.
On 7 July 1969 the hiding place was discovered at the GDR crossing at Drewitz. All three were arrested and taken to the Stasi remand prison on Lindenstraße in Potsdam.
On 15 October 1969 the helpers were sentenced to more than three years for 'anti-state trafficking in people' and the woman to two years and ten months for 'illegal border crossing'. After 17 months in prison she was released to the West through the West German prisoner buyout scheme.
Sources
- Gescheiterte Flucht in einer „trojanischen Kuh“, 7. Juli 1969Chronik der Mauer
- Flucht aus der DDR: Mit Fahrzeugen über die GrenzeDemokratiegeschichten
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Related escapes
4 March 1975
Escape helper Hartmut Richter caught at Drewitz with his sister in the boot
After smuggling 33 people out in the boot of his car, escape helper Hartmut Richter was stopped at the Drewitz crossing with his own sister and her fiancé hidden inside, and sentenced to 15 years.
1964 – November 1967
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23 May 1964
Smuggled out in a BMW Isetta
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22 January 1973
15-month-old Holger H. suffocates during his parents' escape
A young couple hid with their baby son in crates on a West Berlin acquaintance's truck. They passed the Drewitz checkpoint undetected, but when the crates were opened in the West, 15-month-old Holger was no longer breathing.