Right now, walls are in fashion. Over 70 countries, one-third of the world, have some kind of barrier or fence . . . 21 men gave half a year of their lives to dig this tunnel, but there will be other young men and other tunnels.
Sixty years ago this fall, digging began on the most sophisticated tunnel from West to East Berlin, through which 29 escapees would crawl 140 meters to freedom. In this new release, Helena Merriman brings to life the personal stories that motivated engineering student Joachim Rudolph and his collaborators to undertake the task, as well as the practical challenges they faced. Although this is a meticulously researched account of true events, it reads as suspensefully as any espionage novel, complete with a double-agent, families and lovers separated, and imprisonment for the unlucky.
Originally a BBC podcast, this account is now available in book format (352 pages) and as a 10 ½ hour audio narrated by the author, but you can watch the groundbreaking 1962 NBC documentary upon which the story is based, all ninety minutes of it, here. A highlight occurs at the 1:10 mark when the refuguees emerge from the tunnel shaking and dirtied and one of the diggers holds his infant son for the first time.