Escape From East Berlin (1962)

This is a movie released in October 1962 about a successful escape from East Berlin to West Berlin that happened in January 1962. I am surprised it was made so soon after the actual events. The Berlin Wall went up in August 1961 and split friends and families overnight. The East Germans and Soviets said it was to keep the capitalists out of their territory, but it was really to keep their own citizens from fleeing to the West.

In the movie a man who lives in a bombed-out building by the Berlin Wall decides to build a tunnel to get his family and some friends into the West. In the end 28 people make it out while the East German police chase them.

I have seen movies about tunnels being built from West Berlin into East Berlin (as "The Tunnel" a German movie from 2001,) but this is the first one I have seen where the tunnels went from East Berlin to West Berlin.

It is a very good movie that shows just how badly people will work to get their freedom back.