Word: tunneling
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Extricated Friends. The most notorious of this greedy breed is a musclebound ex-butcher nicknamed Der Dicke (Fat Boy). A former black marketeer with many contacts in East Berlin, he got into the tunnel business for almost altruistic reasons-he wanted to help East Berlin friends to escape. While making inquiries about tools and equipment, Der Dicke made the happy discovery that hundreds of West Berlin university students were eager to help him for nothing. On his very first try, he lined up three engineering students who also had friends wishing to escape to the West. Once they had broken...
After the East Berlin Vopos discovered the tunnel, Der Dicke started another, again using volunteers. He also lined up six aides, bright young opportunists who wanted to learn the business. Some acted as couriers, others looked for West Berliners who would pay to extricate friends and relatives from the East. Tunnel No. 2 ended tragically: as two couriers waited for expected customers at the eastern end, they were shot down by Vopos...
Undaunted, Der Dicke went on building tunnels and even took "options" on prospective new sites. His most recent tunnel was designed to come out in an East Berlin lumberyard. Der Dicke and his agents lined up nearly 100 customers in East Berlin, representing a total take of more than $20,000. Der Dicke began dickering with representatives of U.S. and British TV networks, proposing to sell them the rights to an on-the-spot filming of an escape. But the tunnel exit missed the lumberyard by several feet and was instantly spotted by the Vopos...
...Ranked Diplomats. Tunnel 59, the escape route for 59 refugees before it had to be closed last month because of flooding (TIME, Sept. 28), was not organized by the fat operator, but it, too, had its shady aspects. It was built by the voluntary labor of West German and foreign university students, and reportedly financed, among others, by NBC-TV in return for film rights. According to a widespread report in Berlin, on which NBC refuses to comment, the financing was arranged through intermediaries, two Italians and a German, who paid out what was necessary for equipment and supplies...
Frustrated Gropos. Two weeks ago, the first four refugees went through to freedom. Owing to a steady seepage from underground springs, the last of the 59 to cross had to wade through water up to their armpits. When pumps could not cope with the flood, the tunnel was regretfully closed, and East Germans were publicly warned to avoid its use. Lamented one student-worker: "It was the most beautiful tunnel there ever was." Other Western groups are hard at work on four other tunnels in the same general area, but some refugees would not wait: in a single night, eleven...