*** Cold War Berlin Wall complications design extent Erwin Schabe








Berlin Wall Complications: Eiskeller--Erwin Schabe (August 1961)

Erwin Schabe
Figure 1.-- The East Germans began building the Berlin Wall (August 13, 1961). The initial wall was a very simple massonry structure that went up very quickly. There were, however, some complications as the border of Western Berlin was not a series of straight lines. There were some jigs and jags that made wall building completed. One such complication was 12-year old Erwin Schabe with his sack lunch. Here we see Erwin on August 26 being escorted by the British Welsh Guards in an Ferret armored car. Not seen in the photograph is another British Ferret in front protecting Erwin.

The East Germans began building the Berlin Wall (August 13, 1961). The initial wall was a very simple massonry structure that went up very quickly. There were, however, some complications as the border of Western Berlin was not a series of straight lines. There were some jigs and jags that made wall building completed. One such complication was Eiskeller in the British Occupation Zone where 12-year old Erwin Schabe lived. Erwin attended school in the West Berlin district of Spandau, just half a mile down the onlr road to Eiskeller. Than Erwin told his parents that he did not want to go to school any more because the East German police had detained him the previous day. Hhe was afraid of riding his bike down wgat was a lonely stretch of road. Erwin's parents quickly reported the incident to the British Occupation Forces. To prevent a potentially serious international incident, British military police were assigned to protect Erwin. Then for several days, British armored reconnaissance vehicles escorted Erwin on his half-mile bike ride to school. Here we see Erwin on August 26 being escorted by the British Welsh Guards in an armored car (Ferrets) along the corridor between Eiskeller and his school in West Berlin (figure 1). The soldier in the armored car is Pte. David Jeffrey Davies. We are not sure about their orders and rules of engagement. We do know that they had live amunition. The press caption read, "Young boy gets an armored car escort: Berlin. Twelve-year old Erwin Schaba [Note the correct spelling is Erwin Schabe] is accompanied by a British armored car as he rides his bicycle to school in West Berlin Aug. 26th. Erwin lives in Eiskeller, a piece of West Berlin territory located about 400 yards from the West Berlin border. To reach school, the youngster must travel a narrow dirt road that connects Eiskeller to West Berlin. On either side is East German territory. The British Army provided the boy with an escort after he was prevented from reaching school by a Communist East German policeman who stepped out of the bushes near the road." You know that Erwin was really pleased with himself when he rode by the East German policeman with the British armored cars backing him up. The photo here of Erwin nonchalantly on his bike holding his sack with British military vehicles appeared in newspapers around the Wirkd, including the front page of the New York Times. Erwin suddenly became famous and received letters from people throughout Germany. A West Germany civil servant invited him to vacation in West Germany for a week. We do not yet know, however, what became of Erwin and how this anomally in the border was eventually handelled. We are also not sure what the orders were that were given to the British soldiers or if Erwin was instructed how to behave, which was likekly.

Sources

Hudr, Carolin Huder. E-mail message (July 9, 2012). Carolin provided us the correct spelling of Erwin's name.

Davies, David. E-mail message. David's father was one of the Britih soldiers in the Ferret. He tells us that there was a second Ferret in front of Erwin.

"British troops convoy Berlin boy past Red Police," New York Times (August 27, 1961).






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Created: 1:39 AM 9/22/2010
Last updated: 8:24 PM 10/4/2022