Under the Berlin Wall

The construction of the Berlin Wall on August 13^th 1961 split the city in two overnight. The population of East Berlin found themselves – suddenly and unexpectedly – seperated from their workplaces, universities, and schools in the West. Countless families, spouses, partners, and friends were torn apart with no warning. In the coming months, thousands of Berliners, desperate to get back all they had lost, would try to escape from the East and years. Among the hundreds of attempted escape methods, tunnel digging sticks in Berlin’s collective memory like no other. 
The first underground escape tunnel was dug in October of 1961. The final tunnel attempt failed in 1982. In total, 75 escape tunnels are known to have been dug. While only 19 tunnels successfully transported refugees into the West, up to 450 citizens of the GDR, crawling deep under the deadly barriers of the Berlin Wall, found their freedom.

The tour takes place in the most important ‘hotspot’ for tunnel construction in the city: Bernauer Straße. Within a 350 metres stretch of this border, seven tunnel projects were undertaken. It is on this street, deep in the historic vaults of the former Oswald Berliner Brewery, that we will tell the stories of brave souls willing to dig for months at at time – passing under border fortifications, patrolling soldiers, and attentive members of the Ministery for State Security, the famous Stasi – just to reunite people with their loved ones. 
Aided by original photos, exhibits, and full-sized replicas of tunnels, the tour recounts the spectacular successes, bitter betrayals, and heartbreaking failures of tunnel diggers across the city. Visitors will learn about the nail-biting ‘cat-and-mouse game’ played between tunnel diggers and the GDR authorities. We will also explore the details of two of the most successful projects: ‘Tunnel 29’ and ‘Tunnel 57’.

As a final highlight to the tour, visitors will be able to witness – thanks to an access point built by Berliner Unterwelten e.V. – the only original escape tunnel still visible under the Wall.

After the tour we recommend a visit to the Berlin Wall Memorial documentary centre.