Tunnel57 was a tunnel under the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

that on 3 and 4 October 1964 was the location of a mass escape by 57

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

citizens to

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

. It was built from the basement of an empty bakery at 97 Bernauer Straße in West Berlin, under the Berlin Wallwhich at that time and place consisted of empty, bricked-up apartment buildings on the east side of Bernauer Straßeall the way to a disused

outhouse An outhouse — known variously across the English-speaking world otherwise as bog, dunny, long-drop, or privy — is a small structure, separate from a main building, which covers a toilet. This is typically either a pit latrine or a bucket ...

in the rear courtyard at 55 Strelitzer Straße in East Berlin. At a depth of and a length of , Tunnel57 was the longest, deepest and most expensive flight tunnel built in Berlin. Thirty-five West Berliners, including Wolfgang Fuchs, the future astronaut

Reinhard Furrer Reinhard Alfred Furrer (25 November 1940 – 9 September 1995) was a German physicist and astronaut. Furrer was born in Wörgl, Ostmark (now Austria). After the end of World War II, his father was expelled from Austria. The family found a ne ...

, and many students from the Freie University in West Berlin, helped to build the tunnel from April to October 1964, until on 3 and 4 October 57 people fled the

GDR East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

via the tunnel.

History

Some of the organisers of the tunnelthe so-called couriershad made contact with 120 people in East Berlin and planned for their escape. These couriers would bring them to the apartment building at 55Strelitzer Straße and into the courtyard, where Reinhard Furrer would show them to the tunnel entrance in the disused outhouse. Amongst those 120 people who were planned to escape was a collaborator with the

Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...

, the East German secret police. On 4 October around midnight, the second night of fleeing, two Stasi officers in plain clothes presented at the entrance, claiming they wanted to flee, and had another friend they wanted to fetch to come as well. When they returned not with a friend but with

border guards A border guard of a country is a national security agency that ensures border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard (as in Germany, Italy or Ukraine) and rescue service duties. Name and uniform In diffe ...

, one of the helpers, Christian Zobel, shot at the guards, hitting

Egon Schultz Egon Schultz (4 January 1943 – 5 October 1964) was a German sergeant of the East German Border Troops who became the List of deaths at the Berlin Wall, fifty-second known person to die at the Berlin Wall. While responding to the discovery ...

on the shoulder. He fell to the ground, and, while trying to get up again, was fatally shot by

friendly fire In military terminology, friendly fire or fratricide is an attack by belligerent or neutral forces on friendly troops while attempting to attack enemy or hostile targets. Examples include misidentifying the target as hostile, cross-fire while ...

from one of his fellow officers. Seeking to use the incident for propaganda, the East Berlin press reported on the following day that "West Berlin terrorists" had murdered a border guard. The SED, the GDR's dictatorial ruling communist party, spread this rumor and made a martyr out of Schultz, the victim of a ruthless enemy of the border 'Grenzverletzer'' Only after

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

could the exact events be recreated using the Stasi's records from the time. Zobel wrongly believed that he had fatally shot Schultz right up until his death in the 1980s. A memorial plaque on the site today commemorates both the successful escape and Schultz's death as a victim of the Berlin Wall. Tunnel57 caught the attention of the western press too. The German news magazine ''

Stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. O ...

'' reported about the tunnel, though they distanced themselves from the events, despite having helped finance the tunnel. The builders of the tunnel went different ways. Most stayed away from risky flight operations, with Reinhard Furrer continuing his physics degree at the Freie University and going on to become an astronaut. Wolfgang Fuchs and

Hasso Herschel Hasso may refer to: * Hasso von Boehmer (1904–1945), German soldier and part of the 20 July plot to assassinate Hitler * Hasso von Manteuffel (1897–1978), German soldier and liberal politician * Hasso Plattner (born 1944), cofounder of softwar ...

continued to help people to flee from the GDR. The tunnel was partly financed by selling the rights to film and photograph the tunnel to several German and international press and news agencies. The largest single contribution of about 30,000

Deutschmarks The Deutsche Mark (; "German mark"), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later of unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was typically ca ...

came from the West German Federal Ministry of Intra-German Relations.

References

{{Coord, 52, 32, 10.62, N, 13, 23, 33.79, E, type:landmark, display=title Berlin Wall Tunnels in Berlin 1960s in Berlin 1964 in West Germany 1964 in East Germany

History

See also

References