{"id":84804,"date":"2019-02-15T14:00:44","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T18:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=84804"},"modified":"2019-02-16T13:45:28","modified_gmt":"2019-02-16T17:45:28","slug":"weekend-open-thread-260","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=84804","title":{"rendered":"Weekend Open Thread – “Letzter Zug in die Freiheit”"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an earlier article, I\u2019ve written about Heinz Meixner\u2019s daring escape with his fianc\u00e9e and mother-in-law to be from East Berlin via driving through Checkpoint Charlie<\/i><\/a>. Today\u2019s article is about another daring escape from East Berlin by vehicle \u2013 and one which was somewhat more spectacular.<\/p>\n

. . .<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Harry Deterling was a railroad engineer in East Germany. He also was decidedly not a fan of the post-World War II East German government.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, he had been a bit outspoken in his dislike for the East German regime. The East German authorities predictably were not pleased with Herr Deterling; his being shipped off to a work camp was a distinct possibility. He\u2019d already been threatened with exactly that.<\/p>\n

Deterling began looking for a way to escape to West Berlin as soon as the Berlin Wall went up. And he decided that he wanted to take his relatives with him.<\/p>\n

As a train engineer working in Berlin, Deterling knew the track layout fairly well. And he heard something very interesting one day: several rail lines connecting East and West Berlin were still intact. That is, though blocked the tracks themselves were still in place. However, they were going to be dismantled soon.<\/p>\n

Deterling now enlisted the help of his normal stoker, Hartmut Lichy. Fortunately for Deterling, Lichy also wanted to go West. He agreed to help Deterling and his relatives. <\/p>\n

Deterling told his family and friends he was going; ditto Lichy. Twenty-three others accompanied them on the day he would make the attempt.<\/p>\n

That day was 5 December 1961 \u2013 a bit less than 4 months after the Berlin Wall was first erected.<\/p>\n

Deterling’s route that day was one he’d volunteered for. He’d specifically chosen to volunteer for that route because it would bring him close to the Wall on one of the lines that still was intact between East and West Berlin. He approached that point.<\/p>\n

The train had a designated stop near the Wall. Deterling didn\u2019t slow to stop; he accelerated instead. The guards near the scheduled stop were caught \u201cflat-footed\u201d and were unable to respond in time; no shots were fired.<\/p>\n

The train hurtled down the abandoned track. It crashed through the track blockade. <\/p>\n

The train then slowed to a stop. Everyone on board was uninjured. <\/p>\n

They were now in West Berlin.<\/p>\n

Deterling, Lichy, and the 23 others who’d accompanied them remained in West Berlin. Seven others on-board who weren’t “in on the plan” elected to return to East Berlin.<\/p>\n

East German forces dismantled and more strongly barricaded the tracks used by Deterling the following day.<\/p>\n

—–<\/p>\n

Sources<\/u>:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/listverse.com\/2017\/08\/12\/top-10-remarkable-escapes-across-the-berlin-wall\/<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2014\/11\/07\/berlin-wall-escape-stories_n_6090602.html<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/mentalfloss.com\/article\/28517\/8-creative-ways-people-went-over-berlin-wall<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n


\nhttp:\/\/www.chronik-der-mauer.de\/en\/chronicle\/_year1961\/_month12\/?month=12&year=1961&opennid=177122&moc=1<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

. . . <\/p>\n

OK, enough Cold War history. Enjoy the WOT and weekend, everyone. \u201cAnd hey \u2013 be careful out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Author’s Note<\/u>: The subtitle is what Deterling called his train that day. It’s English translation is, “The last train to freedom.”<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an earlier article, I\u2019ve written about Heinz Meixner\u2019s daring escape with his fianc\u00e9e and mother-in-law … Weekend Open Thread – “Letzter Zug in die Freiheit”<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":623,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,221],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-historical","category-open-thread"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/623"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84804\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}