Tunnel 29

In September 1962, 29 people escaped through a 135-metre tunnel dug from a disused factory on Bernauer Straße to a building on Schönholzer Straße in the East. The escape was filmed by an NBC television crew, producing the Emmy-winning documentary “The Tunnel” that brought worldwide attention to the plight of those trapped behind the wall.

The tunnel was dug over five months in 1962 by a group of young West Berliners, including Italian student Luigi Spina, starting from a disused factory at Bernauer Straße 78. The passage ran 135 metres underground at a depth of about 12 metres, passing beneath the death strip and emerging in the cellar of a building on Schönholzer Straße in the East.

In September 1962, 29 people – including elderly people and small children – escaped through the tunnel over two nights. What made this escape unique was the presence of an NBC television crew, who had been given access to film the operation. The resulting documentary, “The Tunnel,” aired on American television in December 1962, winning an Emmy Award and bringing worldwide attention to the desperate lengths people would go to escape East Berlin.

The filming was controversial: critics argued that the publicity endangered future escape operations, while others credited the documentary with raising international awareness. A memorial marker at Bernauer Straße documents the escape, and the story is featured in the Berlin Wall Memorial exhibition.

 Show me on the map

Gallery