Here, at Strelitzer Straße 55 in East Berlin, the famous “Tunnel 57”—one of the boldest and most successful escape tunnels beneath the Berlin Wall—came to an end on October 5, 1964.
Around 35 West German students—among them the future astronaut Reinhard Furrer—had spent months digging: a tunnel 145 meters long and up to 12 meters deep, stretching from the cellar of a disused bakery at Bernauer Straße 97 to a rear courtyard here on Strelitzer Straße.
In just two nights, 57 people successfully escaped to the West—hence the name “Tunnel 57.” However, on the third day, events took a tragic turn. Two supposed refugees entered the premises—in reality, agents of the Ministry for State Security. Under the pretext of retrieving another refugee, they alerted the border guards.
Soon, armed escape helpers like Christian Zobel and GDR border guards stood facing one another. A shootout ensued. During the exchange, 21-year-old Corporal Egon Schultz from Rostock—actually a primary school teacher performing his compulsory military service—was fatally wounded.
The GDR leadership immediately declared that Schultz had been murdered by “West Berlin agents.” He was cast as a martyr; schools, public squares, and streets were named in his honor.
Christian Zobel was identified as the gunman responsible for the killing—a burden he carried until his death in 1992.
Yet it was not until after the Wende—the political transition following the fall of the Wall—when access to Stasi files became available, that the truth finally came to light: the fatal shots had not been fired by Zobel, but by Schultz’s own comrade. The autopsy reports had been falsified by the Stasi to bolster their propaganda narrative. Despite everything, Tunnel 57 remains one of the most spectacular escape operations of the Wall era. For those wishing to learn more: The Berliner Unterwelten association presents not only the full story on its “Tour M,” but also an actual escape tunnel—a sight that truly gets under your skin.
Image 1: Original work
Image 2: Original work
Image 3: By N-Lange.de on German Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27876338
Tunnel 57 / Egon Schultz
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A Brief Excursion into Berlin's History (7:59 min) • St. Nicholas' Church / St. Nicholas' Quarter (2:49 min) • Newspaper District (4:28 min) • Checkpoint Charlie (1:55 min) • Former Gestapo Headquarters (2:57 min) • Former Tempelhof Airport (3:46 min) • 7 Wannsee Conference (4:45 min) • Walther Rathenau Memorial (2:34 min) • Olympic Stadium / 1936 Olympic Games (5:36 min) • Commune 1 (2:27 min) • Benno Ohnesorg / Student Movement (2:16 min) • Rolf Eden (1:54 min) • Café Kranzler (2:08 min) • Kurfürstendamm (3:03 min) • Zoo Palace (3:47 min) • Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (2:22 min) • Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg (3:28 min) • Schöneberg Town Hall (2:33 min) • Former Sportpalast / Sportpalast Speech (5:12 min) • Bendlerblock/Stauffenberg assassination attempt (4:47 min) • Kroll Opera House / Enabling Act (3:09 min) • Reichstag Building (4:14 min) • Reichstag Fire (4:28 min) • Brandenburg Gate (2:52 min) • People's Court (3:08 min) • Potsdamer Place (2:58 min) • Former "Führerbunker" (5:06 min) • "Tresor" (Safe) (1:43 min) • Popular Uprising in the GDR (2:11 min) • Reich Chancellery / Hitler's Seizure of Power (5:11 min) • "Die weiße Maus" (The White Mouse) (2:57 min) • Friedrichstraße Station / "Tränenpalast" (Palace of Tears) (3:46 min) • Humboldt University (1:56 min) • Berlin Palace (5:04 min) • Red City Hall (2:30 min) • Alexanderplatz (2:30 min) • Otto Weidt's Workshop for the Blind / Anne Frank Center (2:05 min) • Hackesche Höfe (5:21 min) • Rosenthaler Platz (2:58 min) • St. Sophia's Church (3:03 min) • Sophie-Gips Courtyards (2:08 min) • Koppenplatz (3:16 min) • Clärchen's Dance Hall (3:54 min) • New Synagogue (2:19 min) • Berliner Ensemble (3:55 min) • Friedrichstadt-Palast (4:02 min) • Dorotheenstadt Cemetery (2:25 min) • Bloody May (2:18 min) • Humboldthain Flak Tower (5:17 min) • Chris Gueffroy and the Victims of the Wall (1:28 min) • AMIGA (1:37 min) • Bernauer Street (4:07 min) • Former Bornholmer Straße Border Crossing (3:26 min) • Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn Sports Park (3:43 min) • Mauerpark (4:07 min) • Arkonaplatz (3:03 min) • Zion Church (3:44 min) • Prenzlauer Berg Fire Station (3:18 min) • Hirschhof (2:41 min) • Freya Klier (2:28 min) • Prater (2:28 min) • Oderberger Straße Municipal Baths (3:36 min) • Oderberger Street 2 (1:58 min) • Currywurst (2:16 min) • Konnopke's Snack Bar (2:43 min) • Gethsemane Church (2:09 min) • Museum in the Kulturbrauerei (1:06 min) • Kulturbrauerei (3:24 min) • Frannz-Club (2:31 min) • Husemann Street (1:58 min) • Jews' Passage (3:32 min) • Prenzlauer Berg Water Tower (2:37 min) • Rosa Luxemburg Square (4:34 min) • Mont Klamott (1:43 min) • Samaritan Church (2:23 min) • Former Stasi Headquarters / Stasi Museum (2:48 min) • Berlin-Karlshorst Museum / Unconditional Surrender (2:54 min) • East Side Gallery (2:59 min) • House Squatting in the 1980s (2:34 min)
