A train station as the starting point for an exciting escape story

In April 1972, the railway station in Marienbad became the starting point for an adventurous escape story. Hans Heine, a citizen of West Germany fell in love with a woman from East Berlin during a one-day stay in that city. He subsequently devised an escape plan for the two of them to West Germany: “We met in Prague where we stayed for a few days for holiday. Right in the beginning of our stay there, I told her: ‘girl, I’ve got a plan for us to escape and my question is: are you ready to come with me? If not, I’d have to declare that I see no chance of finding to each other in the foreseeable future and then it may be better to end the relationship’. But she consented immediately, without any hesitation. She said: ‘yes, I’m coming with you’.” The couple traveled by train to Marienbad, as this was the town nearest to the border, and set out on their escape path with carrying only the necessities in their baggage. After some dangerous and daring situations in the forest, the young couple made it to safety and set its foot on West German territory in the area between Mähring and Neualbenreuth.