Year by year

1970

  1. 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.

    Aircraft and balloons · Killed · Schönefeld

  2. 21 March 1970

    A 22-year-old is shot in the leg at Strelitzer Straße

    A young man got almost to the foot of the Wall before the Strelitzer Straße watchtower spotted him; two aimed shots stopped him, one hitting his right leg.

    Over the wall · Stopped · Mitte

  3. May 1970

    The 85-metre tunnel from Bernauer Straße 80, dug out by the Stasi

    Eight years after Tunnel 29, a new tunnel was begun at Bernauer Straße 80; after a tip-off and listening probes the Stasi exposed it by cross-trenching in May 1970, when it was already 85 metres long.

    Tunnels · Stopped · Mitte / Gesundbrunnen

  4. 7 July 1970

    Willi Born – a young soldier's flight ends in the Bergfelde woods

    Nineteen-year-old conscript Willi Born left his unit and tried to reach West Berlin near Bergfelde; when border soldiers cornered him in a strip of woodland he took his own life.

    Guards who fled · Killed · Hohen Neuendorf (Bergfelde)

  5. 14 November 1970 – 17 November 1970

    Hans-Joachim Zock – a planned swim across the Spree

    After years of Stasi suspicion, Hans-Joachim Zock travelled from Halle to East Berlin in November 1970 intending to swim the Spree to the West; he drowned, and his body was found weeks later.

    Swimming · Killed · Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg / Mitte

  6. 25 December 1970

    Christian Peter Friese shot on Christmas night at Köllnische Heide

    On Christmas Eve 1970 a 22-year-old mechanic from Naumburg travelled to East Berlin and, around midnight, entered the border strip at Johannisthal. Five guards fired 98 shots; he died a few metres short of the last fence.

    Over the wall · Killed · Treptow-Köpenick