Berlin 1963

[Neil Albaugh]

I had the opportunity to travel to Berlin twice in the very early'60s. East Berlin was a grim, colorless place but West Berlin was a thriving, prosperous city. The contrast between the two parts of the city cold not have been more stark.

 

Photos: Berlin wall as it first went up.

               Memorial to the unknown refugee, This young man was found floating in the River Spree, the dividing line between East & West. VOPO (Volks Polezei) patrol boat visible on the river.

 

[Backtheattack]

Oh yes, the wall that cut Germany. We had here only a few kilometres away the so called Little Berlin, the town of Mödlareuth, the same as Berlin, a wall in the middle of the village. Was there in 1989 when this wall falls.

[Neil Albaugh]

The Berlin Wall and the DDR was a prison that people risked their lives to escape from. Many did not get to the West.

[Rakkasan187]

Was stationed in Berlin and witnessed a few escapes. One was fatal, a swimmer was run over in the Spree by a East German patrol boat and a little later in my tour an Ultralight flew into East Germany to rescue a brother that was in the East. It flew back over into the Western Zone and landed in the field next to the old Parliament building, The Reichstag.

 

Pretty gutsy escape. This was in May 89.  Six months later in November 1989 the Wall came down.

 

Leigh 

[Neil Albaugh]

The VOPO patrol boat that ran the swimmer down was probably one of these. I met Wolfgang Engels at the Wall in 1963 after he had just been released from the hospital. He had been shot twice climbing over the Wall after crashing an armored car into it.

[Rakkasan187]

The boats I recall seeing were much shorter.  

 

These images were taken by me when on Wall Patrol. This was in the vicinity of the  Glienickie Bruke (Freedom Bridge) across the Havel River. Across the river and bridge was Potsdam.

 

Leigh 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Neil Albaugh]

Yes, an entirely different type of patrol boat.

[Backtheattack]

Rakkasan187, read about your story with the Ultralight plane first at the German-German Museum at Mödlareuth, in the 2025 new build Museum building are several relics of "Escape from the Republic" on display, for instance a selfmade plane.