Tunnel 29 Behind the Scenes

One of the best things about researching this story was getting to spend so much time with Joachim Rudolph – inventor, digger and escapee. A wonderful man with a forensic memory.

In the middle of a wood, outside Berlin, lives Wolf Schroedter – “the fixer” – who signed the deal with NBC News. I interviewed him in his cabin, with his beautiful Rhodesian Ridgeback lying at our feet.
Uli Pfeifer, one of the diggers, showing me the map they used to work out the best route for the tunnel.

Until I crawled inside the replica of Tunnel 29 – exactly the same dimensions as the original – I had no idea just how small it was. I took my microphone down and made recordings to help re-create the tunnel scenes in the podcast. You can see the replica at Berliner Unterwelten.  

One summer’s day, I met Joachim and Evi outside number seven Schönholzer Strasse. It was incredibly moving seeing them there, standing above the site of the former tunnel through which Evi escaped, before marrying Joachim.
A replica of one of the fruit and veg vans that the Stasi used to drive people – like Wolfdieter – to prison.
This shows the route of Tunnel 29, as well as another tunnel dug two years later.
The apartment the tunnellers broke up into: 7 Schönholzer Strasse.
A replica of one of the fruit and veg vans that the Stasi used to drive people – like Wolfdieter – to prison.
In Berlin today, there are only a few sections of the Wall left. But running through the city, marking the route it once took, is this strip of granite.
The glamorous messenger, Ellen Sesta. Without her, the operation would have failed. Interviewing her was great fun – she had a devilish sense of humour and a stylish apartment full of antiques and leopard print scarves.
The memorial at Bernauer Strasse, commemorating all those who died at the Wall – over 130 of them. The oldest was 80, the youngest was just 6 months old.
This is one of the longest remaining sections of the Berlin Wall – it runs along Bernauer Strasse.
The shoes that Joachim found in the tunnel, belonging to the daughter of Evi – the woman he rescued who he went on to marry.
The Stasi file created when Siegfried Uhse was first recruited (BStU)
Siegfried Uhse’s handwritten letter of commitment for the Stasi. Every informant was expected to write one. (BStU)
Plaque outside 7 Schönholzer Strasse. It reads: ‘In the basement of this house ended a 135-metre-long tunnel, which was dug from West Berlin, through which 29 people…succeeded in escaping to the West. Dug by brave men, who chose this dangerous way so they could hold their wives, children and loved ones in their arms, this tunnel achieved worldwide fame as ‘Tunnel 29’…These escape tunnels demonstrate the despair people had after the building of the Berlin Wall and their longing to find, across the inhumane border, a way to freedom.
Inside Hohenschönhausen prison, where Wolfdieter was taken after he was arrested by the Stasi.
The old Stasi Headquarters in Berlin-Lichtenberg. Berliners called it “The House of a Thousand Eyes.” It’s now the site of the Stasi Archives.
Joachim and Evi on their wedding day, a few years after he helped her escape through the tunnel.

Locations

After the release of the podcast series, people got in touch through social media, asking if I could give them any addresses in Berlin relating to the events of Tunnel 29. Below is a list of locations in Berlin. A few buildings have changed beyond recognition, but most are still intact, many of them now museums dedicated to preserving memories from the days of the Berlin Wall.

For an interactive, searchable map, click on: bit.ly/Tunnel29Map.

Former West Berlin

  • Haus der Zukunft – House of the Future. This was the headquarters of the Girrmann Group, West Berlin’s largest escape network: Goethestrasse 37, Zehlendorf.
  • Siegfried Uhse’s flat in West Berlin: Augsburger Strasse 21, Schöneberg.
  • Marienfelde Refugee Centre: now a museum at Marienfelder Allee 66/80.
  • Cellar in West Berlin from where Joachim and the others dug the main tunnel under the cocktail-straw factory: Wolgaster Strasse (the building itself no longer exists).
  • Flat overlooking the wall where Harry Thoess set up the NBC camera to film the escape: Ruppiner Strasse.
  • Replica of Tunnel 29: this is at the Berliner Unterwelten-Museum in the district of Wedding. The museum runs tours of Berlin’s history below ground, from bunkers to escape tunnels. Brunnenstrasse 105.
  • CIA house where Mimmo told the Americans about the leak. P9: Podbielskiallee 9.
  • Checkpoint Charlie: This is where Mimmo and Gigi crossed into East Berlin when they visited Peter and Evi. Friedrichstrasse 43–45.
  • Berlin Wall Memorial: From a special viewing platform you can see a 70-metre stretch of the original Berlin Wall along with a watch-tower. The site also contains the moving ‘Window of remembrance’, a collection of photographs of those who died at the Berlin Wall. Bernauer Strasse 111.
  • RIAS radio: this was on Hans-Rosenthal-Platz, Schöneberg. It is now the site of Deutschlandfunk, one of Germany’s most popular national broadcasters.
  • John-F-Kennedy-Platz: the square where John F. Kennedy gave his famous 1963 speech. District of Rathaus Schöneberg.

 

Former East Berlin

  • Friedrichstrasse station: the train station where Siegfried Uhse was caught smuggling cigarettes into East Berlin and the main crossing point between East and West Berlin.
  • Heinrich-Heine-Strasse 46: the checkpoint where Wolfdieter Sternheimer was arrested.
  • East German Police Headquarters: Wolfdieter Sternheimer was brought here after being arrested. Keibelstrasse 36, Mitte.
  • Tränenpalast – ‘The Palace of Tears’: the glass and steel departure hall next to Friedrichstrasse, where Wolfdieter said goodbye to Renate after visiting her in East Berlin. Now a museum at Reichstagufer 17, Mitte.
  • Sendler’s house, where the betrayed tunnel broke through: Puderstrasse 7, Treptow.
  • Corner of Puderstrasse and Herkomerstrasse: this is where the Stasi arrested many of those hoping to escape through the betrayed tunnel.
  • Breakthrough site of the second, successful tunnel: Schönholzer Strasse 7, Prenzlauer Berg. A plaque on the wall next to the apartment marks the spot.
  • ‘Orient’: the safe house where Siegfried Uhse met his handler the day he betrayed the escape operation. During the days of the GDR, this street was renamed Wilhelm-Pieck-Strasse, after a communist politician. Since then, the name has reverted back. Torstrasse 72, Mitte.
  • Stasi headquarters: Now a museum that has preserved the offices of Erich Mielke in their original condition. Over eight hundred million pages of Stasi files are stored here. Normannenstrasse 20, Lichtenberg.
  • The Agency of the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records (BStU). This is where Stasi files are brought when requests are made to see them. Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 31–33, Mitte. Runs occasional exhibitions.
  • Hohenschönhausen Prison: Wolfdieter Sternheimer was confined here while in remand: Genslerstrasse 66, district of Hohenschönhausen. Now a museum.

 

Outside Berlin

  • Brandenburg Prison: Anton-Saefkow-Allee 38, in the Görden quarter of Brandenburg an der Havel. Now a museum.