1973
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.
15 March 1973
Horst Einsiedel shot on a ladder at Pankow cemetery
Engineer Horst Einsiedel used two ladders from a cemetery tool shed to cross the fences at Pankow and was shot from a watchtower as he climbed the last wall. The Stasi hid his death from his wife for months.
27 April 1973
Manfred Gertzki's armoured escape attempt at the Reichstag
Wearing a home-made bulletproof vest and a steel-masked helmet, engineer Manfred Gertzki crept along the Spree bank by the Reichstag. He was shot two metres from the demarcation line and pushed into the river, where the armour dragged him down.
26 July 1973
The Klein Glienicke Family Tunnel
Two brothers, their wives and five children escaped from the GDR exclave of Klein Glienicke through a 19-metre tunnel dug with a child's spade during a heatwave.
