Themes · Means and ruses
Hijackings
Escapes by hijacking an aircraft, ship, train or taxi.
6 events: 3 successful escapes, 2 failed attempts and 1 fatal attempt. At least 19 people reached the West in these events. The records span 1962–1983. Most used methods: aircraft and balloons 3, by boat 1, over the wall 1.
Often together with: Shots fired (3), Foreign citizens (2)
8 June 1962
The excursion ship "Friedrich Wolf"
Young East Berliners commandeered the passenger steamer "Friedrich Wolf", locked up its crew and swerved under heavy fire into West Berlin's Landwehrkanal.
26 December 1963
A hijacked taxi from Zerbst and a Boxing Day dash at Schönefeld
Three men from a GDR reception home forced a taxi driver to take them from Zerbst to the edge of West Berlin; with a fourth man they tried to cross the border at about 4.50 a.m. and were stopped by gunfire.
19 October 1969
Two East Germans force a Polish airliner to land at Tegel
Two young East Germans forced the pilots of a Polish Ilyushin 18, flying from Warsaw to East Berlin, to land at Tegel in the French sector of West Berlin, where they asked for political asylum.
10 March 1970
Christel and Eckhard Wehage's attempted hijacking of an Interflug plane
A young couple tried to force an Interflug An-24 on a domestic flight to fly to Hanover. The crew secretly turned back to Schönefeld; as the plane landed, Christel and Eckhard Wehage took their own lives.
30 August 1978
LOT Flight 165: East Germans divert a Polish airliner to Tempelhof
When a plan to leave via Poland with forged papers fell through, two East Germans hijacked the LOT airliner flying from Gdańsk to East Berlin-Schönefeld and forced it down at Tempelhof in West Berlin.
27 May 1983
The S-Bahn hijacking at Friedrichstraße
A 24-year-old forced his way into an S-Bahn driver's cab with an air rifle and tried to make the train run on into West Berlin; it stopped short of a buffer stop and he was overpowered by officers of the passport control unit.
