Family's daring steam train escape from East Berlin

On 13 August 1961, the border around West Berlin became fortified with concrete, barbed wire and armed guards. The Berlin Wall would soon become the most visible symbol of the Cold War.

A steam train driver from the East, Harry Deterling, looked at his wife and four young children and decided to make an escape plan.

His non-conformist nature had also already got him in trouble with the authorities and he was to be sent to a political reeducation camp in the coming January of 1962.

Determined to get out, he managed to secretly gather 25 of his closest family and friends onto a train.

He was in the driver's seat and, on 5 December 1961, he defied the East German state's iron curtain by driving at full steam through the border fortifications.

Alex Eccleston speaks to Harry's son, Manfred Deterling, who was seven at the time, about their daring escape. A Whistledown production.

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(Photo: The Deterling family after the escape. Credit: Deterling family)