Hitch-hiking on the U8
An East Berlin U-Bahn signal mechanic led three relatives through a disused connecting tunnel to the West Berlin U8 line, stopped a western train with his signal lamp and asked for a lift.
West Berlin's U-Bahn line U8 ran under East Berlin without stopping, past sealed 'ghost stations'. Dieter Wendt, 28, a signal mechanic with the East Berlin transport company BVB, knew the tunnels well.
On Saturday 8 March 1980 he got off at the almost empty Klosterstraße station with his cousin, his cousin's wife and their two-year-old child. Unseen, the four jumped down from the platform and walked into the 865 m Waisentunnel, a connecting tube used only by rare works trains, towards the U8.
In the U8 tunnel under the Spree, Wendt stopped a West Berlin BVG train with his red signal lamp. 'We want to come along,' he said. The driver answered: 'Get in and lie down!'
Lying in the driver's cab, the four crossed the border unnoticed shortly after 21:30 and were in Kreuzberg minutes later.
Sources
Whose account is this? Told from press reports only.
Press
- Flucht aus der DDR: Per Anhalter in den WestenBerliner Zeitung
- Flucht aus der DDR: Was der Kalte Krieg für die BVG bedeutet hatBerliner Zeitung
- Die verrückte Flucht aus der DDR durch den Waisentunnel in BerlinBerliner Kurier
- Ein Mann kaperte 1983 einen Zug und wollte mit ihm in den Westen fahren - er kam aber nur bis zum Bahnhof Friedrichstraße: Republikflucht mit der S-Bahn endete vor dem PrellbockBerliner Zeitung
Facts checked against the sources: September 2026
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Cite this page
Berlin Experiences, “Hitch-hiking on the U8”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/wendt-u8-waisentunnel-1980/ (accessed [date]).
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