Alan Cook's Blog - Posts Tagged "stasi"
Berlin Wall Escapes Were Difficult
The Berlin Wall was erected in 1961 to separate East Berlin from West Berlin, and didn’t come down until 1989. The German Democratic Republic (GDR), which is what East Germany called itself, put up the Wall to keep out the fascists in West Berlin. Or so they said. The reality is different.
After World War II ended in 1945, Germany was divided into four sectors, governed by the United States, Soviet Union, United Kingdom and France. The Russian sector became the GDR and was governed as a Socialist state. From 1945 until 1961, millions of the brightest and best inhabitants left the GDR and went to live in West Germany, which included the other three sectors.
So the Wall was actually erected to keep the East Germans in, not to keep the West Germans out. It succeeded all too well. Some East Germans were able to escape, using various methods that took them over, under or through the Wall. Others were shot in the attempt by the sentries at the border. The area known as the Berlin Wall grew wider over the years and contained barbed wire, ferocious dogs, armed sentries and tripwires, as well as powerful searchlights at night.
Speaking of sentries, some of them escaped to the West, since they had the shortest distance to go. There is a famous picture of one of the sentries racing to freedom. Not all the guards were loyal to the GDR.
Many escape attempts are documented at the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. Checkpoint Charlie was the most famous entry point between East and West Berlin. The escapes utilized gliders, planes, hot-air balloons, zip lines, boats, and tunnels. Some men were able to jump onto a moving train. Cars had hidden compartments. A mother wheeled her baby through the checkpoint hidden in a bag in a baby carriage.
One ingenious escape involved a man who rented an Austin Healey convertible, and having found out the height of the metal bar the guards raised to allow cars to pass through to West Berlin, stripped everything off the car above that height and let some air out of the tires. As he approached the customs shed after showing his passport at the checkpoint, instead of stopping he gunned the engine and raced under the bar to safety, along with his fiancée and her mother. Vertical bars were attached to the horizontal bar at the checkpoint after that incident, preventing more escapes.
My book, East of the Wall, takes place in June 1963. It’s part historical fiction and part action/adventure. Charlie and Liz (the protagonists in Trust Me if You Dare), are recruited by the CIA, who haven’t had much luck in the GDR, to go into East Germany and attempt to find information about a secret project from World War II that may have been to develop a weapon of mass destruction.
Their main problems are the Stasi, the East German secret police, who have set up perhaps the best surveillance system the world has ever known. It’s almost impossible to do anything of importance in the GDR without them getting wind of it through their huge group of informers. If the Stasi find out what they are attempting to do, it may be very difficult, if not impossible, for them to return to West.
After World War II ended in 1945, Germany was divided into four sectors, governed by the United States, Soviet Union, United Kingdom and France. The Russian sector became the GDR and was governed as a Socialist state. From 1945 until 1961, millions of the brightest and best inhabitants left the GDR and went to live in West Germany, which included the other three sectors.
So the Wall was actually erected to keep the East Germans in, not to keep the West Germans out. It succeeded all too well. Some East Germans were able to escape, using various methods that took them over, under or through the Wall. Others were shot in the attempt by the sentries at the border. The area known as the Berlin Wall grew wider over the years and contained barbed wire, ferocious dogs, armed sentries and tripwires, as well as powerful searchlights at night.
Speaking of sentries, some of them escaped to the West, since they had the shortest distance to go. There is a famous picture of one of the sentries racing to freedom. Not all the guards were loyal to the GDR.
Many escape attempts are documented at the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. Checkpoint Charlie was the most famous entry point between East and West Berlin. The escapes utilized gliders, planes, hot-air balloons, zip lines, boats, and tunnels. Some men were able to jump onto a moving train. Cars had hidden compartments. A mother wheeled her baby through the checkpoint hidden in a bag in a baby carriage.
One ingenious escape involved a man who rented an Austin Healey convertible, and having found out the height of the metal bar the guards raised to allow cars to pass through to West Berlin, stripped everything off the car above that height and let some air out of the tires. As he approached the customs shed after showing his passport at the checkpoint, instead of stopping he gunned the engine and raced under the bar to safety, along with his fiancée and her mother. Vertical bars were attached to the horizontal bar at the checkpoint after that incident, preventing more escapes.
My book, East of the Wall, takes place in June 1963. It’s part historical fiction and part action/adventure. Charlie and Liz (the protagonists in Trust Me if You Dare), are recruited by the CIA, who haven’t had much luck in the GDR, to go into East Germany and attempt to find information about a secret project from World War II that may have been to develop a weapon of mass destruction.
Their main problems are the Stasi, the East German secret police, who have set up perhaps the best surveillance system the world has ever known. It’s almost impossible to do anything of importance in the GDR without them getting wind of it through their huge group of informers. If the Stasi find out what they are attempting to do, it may be very difficult, if not impossible, for them to return to West.
