Tours of escape tunnels mark Berlin Wall history

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-10-13 08:57

This Oct. 16, 1961 file photo shows a refugee from the German Democratic Republic (DDR) during his attempt to escape from the East German part of Berlin to West Berlin by climbing over the Berlin Wall.[Agencies]

BERLIN – When the East German government built the Berlin Wall in 1961 to prevent its citizens from leaving, the regime failed to account for the ingenuity and creativity of those willing to risk anything to escape the communist system.

While some flew over the barrier in hot air balloons, others sailed far around it across the Baltic Sea and still others snuck across, hidden in secret compartments in cars.

But several hundred took advantage of the soft, sandy soil beneath Berlin to tunnel their way beneath the wall.

Today, almost 20 years after the wall's demise, Berlin's Cold War-era bunker and tunnel system has become one of the most popular attractions for tourists and locals alike.

In 2008, more than 150,000 visitors explored the underbelly of the German capital, touring through the deserted bunkers and tunnels that serve as yet another spine-chilling reminder of the city's tense and violent role in the 20th century.

From the 1960s to the 1970s, Hasso Herschel helped dozens escape from the East to the West through the secret tunnels, some of which he dug with his own hands.

"This was the best thing I ever did in my whole life," the 74-year-old retiree said recently.

Herschel regularly escorts groups through the hidden world below Berlin's streets, explaining how the subterranean escape routes worked.

Herschel, who escaped to West Germany with a forged passport in 1961, dug several illegal tunnels underneath the wall, the first in September 1962.

Its entrance was hidden in a house on the eastern side of the border, right across from the wall on the Bernauer Strasse, according to Herschel's sister Anita Moeller, who helped him to cross.

"We went into the house, down to the basement, and then had to get into a hole in the floor," said Moeller, who escaped with her infant daughter and husband. "First I was worried, because I'm claustrophobic. I'm afraid of dark and narrow places ... but once I was inside the tunnel, there was no time left for my fears."

Twenty-nine people fled through that shaft, making it one of the most successful tunnel projects at the time.

While some tunnels were just less than 100 feet long, others were up to 557 feet in length.

Some were like small tubes, barely big enough to crawl through, while others were tall enough to stand up in. It took between three days and six months to dig the various constructions between October 1961 and April 1982. Altogether about 300 people managed to escape through the tunnels.

Fleeing East Germany was dangerous. Border guards had orders to shoot any escapees on the spot. Researchers estimate that 136 people died trying to cross the wall and about 700-800 perished along the entire 856-mile length of the border separating East and West Germany.

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