Tunnel 29 by Helena Merriman

Author:Helena Merriman [Merriman, Helena]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Published: 2021-08-24T00:00:00+00:00

4 p.m.

It’s just a few minutes before the escapees are due to arrive and the house is surrounded by Stasi agents. Spiders waiting for flies. Spread along the streets, the Stasi agents hold newspapers and talk in small groups, trying to look inconspicuous.

Then they see it: a truck. Mimmo is on board and he’s just about to tell the driver to park and unload the escapees when he sees the men in long coats and hats on the street. ‘Keep going, keep going, don’t stop!’ he shouts and the truck screeches off. Shaking, Mimmo is relieved, but has no way of letting the others know the operation has been infiltrated. And right now, the first escapees, those coming on foot, are arriving.

They collect on the street, waiting for something, none of them sure what. Some try to hide, one Stasi files notes: ‘it appeared that they were waiting for something specific. One of the wives waited in a bush by the cemetery wall for an extended period of time.’ Eventually, one man approaches a Stasi agent, assuming he must be a volunteer from West Berlin, here to help with the escape. ‘Is the operation still on?’ he asks. ‘Can we get any more people into the lorries?’

The Stasi agents can’t believe their luck and they bundle the man into a car, where they pump him for information. One of the escape-helpers on the street realises what’s going on; he tries to signal to those arriving that the operation is blown, but it’s too late, and he’s arrested. Soon there’s a steady stream of arrivals – elderly people, couples, some with children in pushchairs – all oblivious to the men in long coats, and by the time they notice that something isn’t right, it’s too late, for the Stasi agents are swooping in, shoving everyone into cars and taking them away until there’s no one left – just a single pushchair lying on the street.

A few roads away, Evi, Peter and their toddler Annet are racing towards the house. They’re late because Evi was out when the messenger turned up at their house to tell them the escape was on. Evi was collecting a green dress she’d had made specially for this escape, the only item of clothing she would bring with her to West Berlin. When Evi arrived home, Peter was furious: ‘Where have you been? We have to leave right now! The tunnel is ready!’

Grabbing their ID cards, nappies and money, they’d raced to the station, onto the S-Bahn. Now, as they approach the street, Evi’s stomach churns because, apart from them, there’s no one else there and she can’t understand why it’s so quiet. But they keep going, determined to stick to the plan, for they know the house is just around the next corner, and that’s when they see them – a handful of men skulking on the street, and they turn on their heels, walking away as fast as they can, hoping that no one follows.

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