One Of The Most Daring Escapes Of The Cold War Involved Nothing But Shovels And Grit
One of the most daring escapes of the Cold War involved nothing but shovels and grit. It was pulled off by a group of brave West German students led by Joachim Rudolph. In 1962, they dug a tunnel under the Berlin Wall and helped dozens of people flee to freedom.
The mission was highly risky, and the crew faced challenges such as collapsing walls and surveillance by the Stasi, the East German ministry of state security. In the end, the escape was successful, making it a remarkable story of courage and determination.
When Joachim Rudolph was five years old, the Allies divided Germany in two in 1945, following World War II. West Germany turned into a capitalist democracy, while East Germany, where Rudolph lived, became an authoritarian state ruled by the Soviets.
Soon after, the Soviets forced his family from their farm. His mother, grandmother, and sister were violently assaulted, and his father was sent away, never to be seen or heard of again.
At the age of 11, Rudolph made ends meet by smuggling coffee through checkpoints between the East and the West.
Two years later, he joined an uprising against Soviet rule. More than 300 protesters were killed before it was shut down.
Eventually, three million Germans fled to the West, mainly through Berlin. On August 12, 1961, East Germany strung up barbed wire around the city and erected a concrete wall decked out with guard towers, flamethrowers, and land mines to prevent people from leaving.
Many tried but failed to get over, under, or through the Berlin Wall. Rudolph’s attempt to escape was successful.
Under the cover of darkness, he crawled through a swamp and made it into the West just as the sun started to rise.
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In 1962, he sent blank West German passports to his mother and sister. They added their own photographs and were able to cross the border into West Berlin.
Later that year, he agreed to help dig an escape tunnel from the East to the West. By returning to the country he had just escaped from, he risked being captured and thrown into prison or even killed.
He found the perfect spot to start digging—a factory on Bernauer Strasse. The factory’s front was in West Berlin, while the back was in the East. The factory owner, who was also an escapee, helped Rudolph with his plan. It was a bold move since the street was bustling with tourists.
The hard clay beneath the street took a long time to excavate. Rudolph recruited over 20 men to help. In time, the tunnel grew.
It was shaped like a triangular and measured one meter by one meter, just large enough for a human to crawl through.
Rudolph strung up light bulbs to illuminate the tunnel and rigged stovepipes to deliver fresh air when oxygen levels were running low. But the summer of 1962 was quite wet, making the ground extremely soft.
Rudolph stopped work on the current tunnel for fear it would collapse. He looked for other abandoned tunnels around the city to complete. Soon, he and his team were able to make their way through an underground passage that led to a basement.
Unfortunately, a Stasi spy named Siegfried Uhse knew of the plan and notified East German intelligence. The Stasi were waiting for Rudolph to arrive, and they may have been captured if it weren’t for the fact that the team was well-armed.
The mission was compromised, so he returned to work on his original tunnel. At the end of the tunnel, he found 29 East Berliners between the ages of eight and 80 waiting to escape. He led the refugees through the tunnel until they reached the factory on Bernauer Strasse.
Thanks to Rudolph, the refugees were able to start new lives in the West. The passageway he built went on to be remembered as Tunnel 29 for the 29 people he rescued from Soviet oppression.
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