Stasi Tunnel markers diagonally crossing border strip towards Reconciliation Church bells, Berlin Wall, Bernauer Strasse
A nearby information panel reads: 'A less dangerous route to the West appeared to be beneath Berlin's surface. Several tunnels were dug between 1961 and 1989. Some of them were built from the East to the West, but most ran in the other direction. During the first decade after the Wall was built, escape helpers dug tunnels to bring over their wives, relatives and friends. The area beneath Bernauer Strasse was particularly well suited for this because the ground there was extremely stable. It took the workers three to six months to complete a tunnel. Only three of about a dozen tunnels were actually used to bring fugitives to the West. The others had to be abandoned before completion or were betrayed to the secret police. Almost 90 people were able to reach West Berlin through tunnels at Bernauer Strasse'. To counter the escapes through tunnelling the Stasi built tunnels to intersect the escape tunnels. These markers show the line of a Stasi Tunnel crossing the border strip from near the foundation walls of Bernauer Strasse 10a towards the former site of the Reconciliation Church.
Size: 3648px × 5411px
Location: Stasi Tunnel markers, Berlin Wall Memorial, Bernauer Strasse, Berlin, Germany
Photo credit: © robert harrison / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: bells, berlin, bernauer, blue, border, church, cold, day, division, german, germany, grass, green, history, marker, markers, political, portrait, reconciliation, sky, stasi, stones, strasse, strip, sunny, tunnel, wall, war
