Tunnel 29 - Ep6: The Gun

Intrigue

BBC

True Crime, Society & Culture, Personal Journals

4.6 • 4.6K Ratings

🗓️ 16 October 2019

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“And then my interrogation began.” The escape operation unravels. Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Helena Merriman tells the extraordinary true story of a man who dug a tunnel into the East, right under the feet of border guards, to help friends, family and strangers escape. The series is based on original interviews with the survivors as well as thousands of documents from the Stasi archives and recordings from the tunnel. Producer & Presenter: Helena Merriman Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore Translation and additional research: Sabine Schereck Editor: Richard Knight Joachim Rudolph's original interviews voiced by Mark Edel Hunt #tunnel29

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.
0:25.0	And then somehow I can't remember how we heard about another tunnel which had been
0:29.9	dug right into the east, but it had been abandoned by the people digging.
0:43.9	The breakthrough at the border will take place between 4 and 7pm on the 7th August.
0:49.9	Altogether, 100 people are expected.
0:52.9	Three lorries will be used to take them to a house near the border.
0:56.9	From there, they'll go to West Berlin.
0:58.9	We gathered up everything we'd need an axe, a saw, a hammer and some walkie talkies,
1:03.9	so we could keep in touch with the rest of the team back in the west.
1:06.9	And then we added weapons.
1:11.9	From BBC Radio 4, this is tunnel 29. I'm Helena Merriman.
1:15.9	Chapter 6. The Gun.
1:18.9	Before we start, we're going to freeze time.
1:21.9	Leave everyone right where they are on the 7th August 1962 at around 5 in the evening.
1:29.9	In East Berlin, in the grounds of a factory, you've got 43 people being held by starsy officers,
1:36.9	men, women and children who all thought they'd be in the west by now.
1:40.9	Then just a few metres away, underground, you've got Joachim, Haso and Unli.
1:45.9	They're right under the living room and they're just about to break up into it.
1:50.9	They've got no idea that the cottage is surrounded by the starsy.
1:59.9	We took out the drill, made four holes in the shape of a square,
2:03.9	and then got the saw out.
2:06.9	It wasn't easy because the saw kept getting snagged and something.
	...

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