5 November 1965 · Guards who fled
Two young conscripts vanish in the fog at Bergmann-Borsig
A two-man patrol of new conscripts from the same home town climbed the fence and the new concrete wall at Wilhelmsruh in thick fog and took their submachine guns with them.
On 5 November 1965 a two-man post of the 31st Border Regiment was on duty next to the Bergmann-Borsig works in Berlin-Wilhelmsruh. Both soldiers came from Mühlhausen, had worked in the same factory and had been called up on the same day in May 1965.
Between 10:00 and 10:40, in heavy fog, they crossed the old border fence and the 2.20 m wall of concrete slabs built in front of it that spring. The neighbouring posts saw nothing.
A patrol arriving at 10:40 found the coil of wire on the fence torn down and a glove caught in the wire. The two had taken their submachine guns and left the rest of their equipment. A civilian photographed the empty watchtower from a Volkswagen on the western side.
The Stasi blamed the company commander, who had let two unproven men from the same town serve together, only a month after another group desertion from the same unit.
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
- Jahrgang 1965: Gruppenfahnenflucht von Grenzsoldaten in Berlin-WilhelmsruhStasi-Unterlagen-Archiv (Die DDR im Blick der Stasi)
Facts checked against the sources: September 2026
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Cite this page
Berlin Experiences, “Two young conscripts vanish in the fog at Bergmann-Borsig”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/wilhelmsruh-bergmann-borsig-guards-1965/ (accessed [date]).
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