Today I learned about Wolfgang Engels. He is a former East German soldier. In late April 1963, the man stole a military tank from his base while the crew was at lunch and drove it right through the Berlin wall to escape from East Berlin to West Berlin. The East Berlin populace was so used to seeing tanks out on the streets that they actually stopped traffic to let the guy pass. The tank got stuck halfway through the wall and he got out, under heavy fire and successfully made the escape. He got his freedom, but his mother (a devout communist) disowned him. He became a biology teacher, retired and now works as a Docent at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
The badassery of it. The sheer idea that "Tank. Wall. Let's do it" and then actually doing it. Damn. There were other folks who beat the Berlin wall as well.
In May 1963, Austrian Heinz Meixner drove a convertible right under the checkpoint gate. He realized the car is just short enough to make it, so he removed the windshield, took the top down, stashed his mother in law in the trunk, and drove with his fiancee straight through and made it!
Norbert Konrad got inspired by the idea and tried it again. Of course the East Berliners weren't going to be fooled twice so they added steel bars under the gate to prevent a second time.
There were others too, who used a homemade submarine, a hot air balloon and a micro aircraft. Intense!
The badassery of it. The sheer idea that "Tank. Wall. Let's do it" and then actually doing it. Damn. There were other folks who beat the Berlin wall as well.
In May 1963, Austrian Heinz Meixner drove a convertible right under the checkpoint gate. He realized the car is just short enough to make it, so he removed the windshield, took the top down, stashed his mother in law in the trunk, and drove with his fiancee straight through and made it!
Norbert Konrad got inspired by the idea and tried it again. Of course the East Berliners weren't going to be fooled twice so they added steel bars under the gate to prevent a second time.
There were others too, who used a homemade submarine, a hot air balloon and a micro aircraft. Intense!
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