Tunnel 29: The True Story of an Extraordinary Escape Beneath the Berlin Wall

by Helena Merriman

Behind all of this were inspiring ideals: life would improve. No more poverty. No more unemployment. Free healthcare and education for everyone. And these ideas fell on eager ears: many were hungry for change, and the promise of a new system that would share wealth equally, give

everyone free education and somewhere to live was intoxicating. But the shelves in the shops got emptier.

When I began my research, I asked the Stasi Archives for everything they had on Siegfried Uhse. Two months later, they’d gathered the files together. All 2,735

For, if the Wall symbolises “the failure of Communism,” the tunnel symbolises man’s incessant drive for freedom.’ And perhaps the government was listening, for the United States Information Agency (run by Edward R. Murrow) buys hundreds of copies of The Tunnel and screens them around the world.