Glienicke Bridge

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Glienicke bridge in Berlin, view to South East

The Glienicke bridge (Glienicker Brücke) is a bridge in Berlin which spans the Havel River to connect the cities of Potsdam and Berlin near Klein Glienicke. It was completed in 1907.^[1]

1 Bridge of spies
2 Gallery
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Bridge of spies

The Soviet Union and the United States used it three times to exchange captured spies during the Cold War, and the Bridge was referred to as the Bridge of Spies by reporters.^[2]

The first prisoner exchange between the superpowers took place on February 10, 1962. The U.S. released noted Russian spy Colonel Rudolf Ivanovich Abel in exchange for pilot Francis Gary Powers captured by the USSR following the U-2 Crisis of 1960. Annette von Broecker claims that a lucky guess resulted in her being the only eyewitness to this exchange. ^[3]

The second exchange on June 12, 1985 was a hurriedly arranged swap of 23 American agents held in Eastern Europe for Polish agent Marian Zacharski and other three Soviet agents arrested in the West.

The final exchange was also the most public. On February 11, 1986 the human rights campaigner and political prisoner Anatoly Sharansky and three Western agents were exchanged for Karl Koecher and four other Eastern agents.

The Glienicke bridge as a venue for prisoner exchange has also appeared in fiction, most notably in the 1966 Harry Palmer film, Funeral in Berlin, starring Michael Caine, based on the novel of the same name.

[edit] Gallery

View to Potsdam	Another view to Potsdam	View from Potsdam through Jungfernsee	Remnants of the border line
Bridge, lakes, and Klein Glienicke

[edit] References

^ Structurae [en]: Glienicke Bridge (1907)
^ According to James M. Markham of The New York Times, the bridge was one "East German Communists call 'the bridge of unity,' but which might better be called 'the bridge of spies.'" Markham, "Shcharansky to Be Released In a Berlin Exchange Today," The New York Times Feb 11, 1986.
^ von Broecker, Annette [2001]. "Swans, Spies and a Greenhorn with Red Gloves", in edited by Moore, Nicholas and Sidney Weiland.: Frontlines: Snapshots of History. London: Pearson Education, 107-112. ISBN 1-903684-01-3. “I said nothing for a while. But then I could not hold back. 'Herr Klueths,' I coughed. 'What about Glienicker Brücke?'”