In November 1962, a little over one year after the Wall had gone up, Manfred Koster was drafted into East Germany's National People's Army. He was to report for duty on June 1 1963. As a staunch pacifist he felt anything was better than that – and decided to defect. He had had enough of East Germany, the way it spied on and suppressed its own citizens. They had taken his freedom away, so there was nothing left for him but to leave.

The newly built wall made escape almost impossible. The risk of climbing over it, being discovered and shot was too high. Koster would have to find another way out. Then he remembered his old friend Klaus-Günter Jacobi. Maybe he would have an idea. But how could he reach him in the other part of the city? And how could they plan escape in secret?

Koster quickly decided he needed to pay a visit to Jacobi in West Berlin. He had to find a way to sneak out. Manfred's brother Hans had already gone to live in the West at that point. So when Hans came to visit him, Manfred took Hans' West German ID and used it for one night to get across. As the brothers looked almost like twins, Manfred had no problem going to West Berlin. He showed up completely unannounced at Jacobi's door. And that is the night when Jacobi hatched the plan to use his BMW Isetta to smuggle his friend through the border.