6 October 1961 · Window jumps · Bernauer Straße

Anita L. and Erna M. are caught in the attic with a washing line

Two women who planned to let themselves down to the West on a washing line were arrested in the attic of Swinemünder Straße 24.

In the weeks after the border was sealed, many residents of the houses on the border at Bernauer Straße escaped by jumping or roping down to the West Berlin side. Anita L. and Erna M. planned to use a washing line.

On the evening of 6 October 1961 border police found the two women in the attic of Swinemünder Straße 24 and arrested them before they could make their descent.

The border police handed them over to the East Berlin People's Police.

Sources

  1. Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer – Bereich D: Alltag an der Mauer (Orientierungsplan und Ereignismarken), marker D 431Stiftung Berliner Mauer
  2. D 431 – Digital Guide, Berlin Wall MemorialStiftung Berliner Mauer
  3. D 431 – Digitaler Tourguide, Gedenkstätte Berliner MauerStiftung Berliner Mauer

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  1. 19 September 1961

    Five escapees rope down from the roof of Bernauer Straße 43

    Four men and a woman crossed the rooftops, tied a rope to a chimney and let themselves down to the western pavement; the woman fell from the third-floor level and was badly hurt, and another woman was caught in the attic.

    Window jumps · Some got through · Mitte

  2. 19 August 1961

    Rudolf Urban's rope descent from Bernauer Straße 1

    Rudolf Urban and his wife let themselves down on a rope from their first-floor flat; he was badly injured and died in hospital four weeks later.

    Window jumps · Killed · Mitte

  3. 30 August 1961

    Two rope escapes in one night from Bernauer Straße 2

    At 1.30 a.m. a tenant and two friends roped down from Bernauer Straße 2; at about 4 a.m. five more people fled through a window of the same house.

    Window jumps · Reached the West · Mitte

  4. 7 October 1961

    Klaus Sch. comes through the cemetery and is caught in Bernauer Straße 10

    A Swinemünder Straße resident got into the border house at Bernauer Straße 10 through the Elisabeth cemetery, meaning to flee, and was arrested there.

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