Allied Museum: RETROSPECTIVE

Perseverance pays. Since the discovery of the Berlin Spy Tunnel in the year 1997, the Museum has continually worked on the history of this endeavor by the Secret Service: both to successfully restore the uncovered portion of the tunnel and to tell the story of this unique operation. Materials on this common action of the U.S. and British Secret Services remain classified to this day.

Meanwhile, the Museum’s state of knowledge is roughly consistent with the portrayal of David Stafford in his book “Spies Beneath Berlin.” At an event in October 2002, the Museum was able to present three contemporary witnesses who worked directly on the tunnel project for the British side. At the beginning of this year, the Museum learned that the work on a new interstate freeway in southern Berlin would intersect the course of the former spy tunnel. This presented the opportunity to take another on-site look at the unique object, and possibly secure a piece for the Museum’s future activities. In cooperation with the Senate Administration for Urban Development in the Berlin city-state government, and the Züblin construction firm from Stuttgart, the course of the tunnel was marked, and a seven-meter-long section was recovered. We now know that this section was connected to the portion which was recovered in 1997 and is currently a restored object in the Museum’s permanent collection. The second recovery brought to light some interesting new information: it looks as if the border troops of East Germany, when they were building the border fortifications in August 1961, raised the tunnel to the length of the eastern border strip. A brick “wall” with a thickness of 50 centimeters, which was built on the eastern side of the sector border, provides a true puzzle. When exactly was this wall built, and why?

Fortunately, several contemporary witnesses who had experienced the exposure of the tunnel on-site in 1956 got in touch with the Museum during the recovery activities. Cleaning and conservation work is now underway, and the Museum plans to present a special exhibition in April 2006 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the tunnel’s opening.

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