When the East German government built the Berlin Wall in 1961 to prevent its citizens from leaving, the regime failed to account for the ingenuity and creativity of those willing to risk anything to escape the communist system. While some flew over the barrier in hot air balloons, others sailed far around it across the Baltic Sea and still others snuck across, hidden in secret compartments in cars. But several hundred took advantage of the soft, sandy soil beneath Berlin to tunnel their way beneath the wall. Today, almost 20 years after the wall's demise, Berlin's Cold War-era bunker and tunnel system has become one of the most popular attractions for tourists and locals alike. In 2008, more than 150,000 visitors explored the underbelly of the German capital, touring through the deserted bunkers and tunnels that serve as yet another spine-chilling reminder of the city's tense and violent role in the 20th century. From the 1960s to the 1970s, Hasso Herschel helped dozens escape from the East to the West through the secret tunnels, some of which he dug with his own hands. “This was the best thing I ever did in my whole life,” the 74-year-old retiree said recently. Herschel regularly escorts groups through the hidden world below Berlin's streets, explaining how the subterranean escape routes worked. He dug several illegal tunnels underneath the wall, the first in September 1962. Its entrance was hidden in a house on the eastern side of the border, right across from the wall on the Bernauer Strasse, according to Herschel's sister Anita Moeller, who helped him to cross. Twenty-nine people fled through that shaft, making it one of the most successful tunnel projects at the time. While some tunnels were just less than 100 feet long, others were up to 557 feet in length. Some were like small tubes, barely big enough to crawl through, while others were tall enough to stand up in. It took between three days and six months to dig the various constructions between October 1961 and April 1982. Altogether about 300 people managed to escape through the tunnels. Fleeing East Germany was dangerous. Border guards had orders to shoot any escapees on the spot. Researchers estimate that 136 people died trying to cross the wall and about 700-800 perished along the entire 856-mile length of the border separating East and West Germany. Often tunnels were discovered by the border troops or the Stasi, East Germany's dreaded secret police, before they could be used. Others collapsed accidentally, were flooded by ground water or buried by loose soil. The tours usually start at a labyrinthine Cold War bunker in the bustling immigrant neighborhood of Wedding. Here, the Underworlds Association has created an illustrative model tunnel equipped with buckets, shovels and a little wooden box wagon that was used to carry out the excavated soil. The light in the bunker is dim and fluorescent paint from the Cold War-era glows on the walls, creating an eerie atmosphere. Later on, the groups move on to Bernauer Strasse in Mitte neighborhood, one of the most popular spots for tunnel diggers at the time, due the high amount of clay in the soil. In the first months after the erection of the Berlin Wall on Aug. 13, 1961, about 600 refugees ran away through the city's canals and the subway system, but by the end of 1961, East German border troops had sealed off access completely. It was then, that people started digging their way to freedom. Tours of Berlin's tunnels Tour “M” offered in English on Wednesdays at 1 P.M. through the end of October, and in German on Saturdays and Sundays at 11 A.M. Adults, $17.75 (12 euros); youth, $13 (9 euros); http://www.berliner-unterwelten.de or 011-49-30-499-105-17.
