Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings January 2014, Volume 27, Number 1 | Page 68

A medical student trapped behind the Berlin Wall, 1961
S. Robert Lathan, MD

n the October 2013 issue, I wrote of my Johns Hopkins
medical student experience in 1961 at Guy’s Hospital in
London (1). After that visit, I traveled in Europe. In early
August 1961, I was in the Hofbräuhaus in Munich and met
a German man named Klaus who asked if I planned to go to
Berlin, where he lived. I didn’t have a scheduled itinerary in
Europe, but Klaus continued to encourage me to go to Berlin
and gave me his telephone number.
A few weeks later, I was available to travel to West Berlin
and found lodging near the bombed church on Kurfürstendamm. The next day I had a bus tour to East Berlin and had
to drive through the Brandenburg Gate, the landmark of
Berlin. Later I called Klaus who invited me to have dinner
with him at home. His father, who worked for the newspaper, asked if I had seen East Berlin. I related I had already
toured it, but he said I should go back again. I asked why,
and he said, “Something new is going on but I can’t really
say what.”
I had one more day in Berlin and decided to go back again.
It was Sunday, August 13, 1961, and I could see water cannons
spraying against the crowds periodically. I walked right up to
the Brandenburg Gate, and the guard asked for my passport
and let me through. I immediately saw another man who asked
if I was an American; when I said yes, he said he was Canadian
and that we should stay together.
About 100 yards from the gate, we could see armed East
Berlin (Russian) troops marching along with tanks. Along Unter
den Linden, we had a small lunch, which cost only about 30¢, as
the currency in East Berlin was only 20% that of West Berlin.
An hour later at the Brandenburg Gate, the troops and
tanks had multiplied significantly. A guard at the gate crossed
his arms against his chest and shouted “Nein! Nein!” to us
every time we said that we had to get back to West Berlin. We
and all other citizens were forbidden to cross through the gate
into West Berlin. Finally, the guards explained that the only
way we could get out was at Potsdamer Platz via the U-Bahn
(subway). As we found the U-Bahn, it seemed that I was the

I

Figure. The Berlin Wall near the Brandenburg Gate.

only American in East Berlin. I told my Canadian friend that
we “might be on our way to Siberia.”
Somehow, we got to Potsdamer Platz into West Berlin. As
we were taken back again to Brandenburg Gate, we could see
the new wall being built with tangles of barbed wires, causing
a divided city. The barricade wall was 103 miles long, an average of 12 feet high, and guarded by 300 watch towers. During
the summer of 1961, over 1000 refugees a day left from East
Berlin to West Berlin. The city’s population was reduced from
4 million to 2 million. The border between east and west went
up almost overnight while most Berliners were asleep.
From that day on August 13, 1961, a wall separated the city
for almost 30 years (Figure). It was a struggle between Soviet
Communism and freedom. The wall became a symbol of the
Cold War. I