Number of prisoners who escaped Berlin jail rises to nine
January 2, 2018
The German Green party's senator for justice in Berlin has said more prisoners broke out of the facility than initially reported. Seven of the men remain at large, after one was apprehended and another turned himself in.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/P. Zinken
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The German Green party's senator for justice for Berlin, Dirk Behrendt, said on Tuesday that as many as nine prisoners had escaped from Berlin's Plötzensee prison in days between Christmas and New Year.
The prison facility in Berlin's Charlottenburg district had initially announced late Monday that two men had escaped that day through the window of a neighboring cell, and that five had escaped within that week.
However, Behrendt disclosed that two more prisoners had escaped over the weekend, while two others had been at larges since last Thursday.
It remained unclear whether the men had broken out of the facility or had simply not returned following a day of authorized work outside of the from prison
Tracing the division of Berlin
On November 9, 1989 the border separating East and West Berlin suddenly opened, and the Berlin Wall became history. DW traces the remnants of the wall that divided the city.
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Brandenburg Gate
The Berlin Wall divided Berlin for 28 years, two months and 27 days, from August 1961 to November 1989. The Brandenburg Gate had long been the symbol of the division of Germany. Even after the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, there was no passage here. That changed on December 22, 1989. Since then, Berliners have been able to walk unhindered through the landmark of their city again.
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East Side Gallery
The East Side Gallery on the River Spree in Friedrichshain is a 1.3-kilometer-long section of the so-called Hinterland Wall, which artists from all over the world painted in 1990. It was located in front of the death strip and a second wall. The area near the Oberbaumbrücke is a tourist attraction, but several wall elements have already been removed in the course of construction projects.
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Berlin Wall Memorial
Nowhere is the former "death strip" as vivid as it is here. An 80-meter-long segment of the Wall, including a guard tower, has been reconstructed. The authentic border fortification complex serves as a central reminder of the division of Germany. It pays homage to the victims who died or were killed at the Berlin Wall.
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Traces of the route of the Wall
The Berlin Wall has disappeared almost everywhere in the city. East and West have now grown together. A strip of cobblestones in the city center marks where the Wall used to run.
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Checkpoint Charlie
This border crossing is among the best-known sights in Berlin. Only foreigners and diplomats were allowed to pass through this checkpoint. In October 1961, shortly after the Wall was built, there was a standoff here as armed Soviet and American tanks stood face-to-face. The situation very nearly escalated.
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The Palace of Tears
It was a place of tearful farewells. Hundreds of people crossed this border post at Friedrichstrasse station when leaving East Germany for West Berlin. The former departure terminal now serves as a reminder of the forced separation of friends and families. Visitors can walk through an original cubicle where passports were checked and relive the border clearance procedure for themselves.
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Hohenschönhausen Memorial
This former Stasi prison has been a memorial to the victims of communist dictatorship since 1994. Visitors are informed about the detention conditions and interrogation methods in communist East Germany. Former inmates lead the guided tours.
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The former listening station at Teufelsberg
After World War II, this area was used to deposit debris. Rubble from the war was collected to form the Teufelsberg, the highest elevation in West Berlin. During the Cold War, the US National Security Agency used the hill as a listening station. From here, military radio signals from the Warsaw Pact countries could be intercepted, monitored and jammed.
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Glienicke Bridge
You might imagine that the exchange of captured spies only took place on the silver screen, but this bridge between Berlin and Potsdam was actually the scene of three such operations. Steven Spielberg used this historic place as a setting in his feature film "Bridge of Spies."
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German Spy Museum
This interactive museum right near Potsdamer Platz takes visitors into the world of espionage. Special emphasis is placed on activities in Berlin during the Cold War. Among the more than 300 exhibits is an East German Trabant car with infrared cameras hidden in its doors.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. von Jutrczenka
Berlin Wall Trail
The Berlin Wall Trail follows the path of the former division of the city and covers some 160 kilometers. The Japanese donated some 10,000 cherry trees "to bring peace in the hearts of the people." They were planted in different sections of the former Wall. This avenue is right by Bösebrücke, the first crossing to open on the day the Wall came down.
Meanwhile, another inmate failed to return by Friday evening after a parole day. Monday's escape took the total up to five.
Most of the men were reportedly imprisoned for aggravated assault, theft and burglary.
However, by Tuesday one of the escapees had reportedly turned themselves in, while another was apprehended by police.
Calls for Behrendt resignation
The spate of escapes from Plötzensee led calls on Tuesday for Behrendt's resignation, including from within his own governing coalition. "Who wants to go again, who hasn't yet? This would actually be a reason for a senator for justice to resign," tweeted Joschka Langenbrinck, a lawmakers for the Social Democrats (SPD) in Berlin's state parliament.
The German capital has been governed by a coalition made up of the SPD, the Greens and the Left Party since last year.
However, there were also vocal calls for Behrendt's resignation from the opposition, as Berlin's Christian Democrats said that the justice senator's position was "no longer tenable."
A spokesperson for Behrendt defended the minister's position and track record, saying that the number of escaped prisoners had not increased under his watch. In 2016, before Behrendt became senator for justice, there were 43 recorded breakouts, compared to 42 in 2017. Those two years, however, indicated a significant increase in the number of escapes since 2010.
Security review
At least two of the prisoners were expected to be released by September 2018 while the others were set to be freed by October 2020.
According to authorities, the multiple jailbreaks prompted the prison to conduct an internal security review to determine the circumstances that allowed for multiple incidents.
