Berlin Wall Escapes1961–1989

30 August 1961 · Over the wall

A gardener breaks through from the unguarded water-authority site on the Teltow Canal

At about 6.40 a.m. on 30 August 1961 a gardener working on a water-authority site right on the Teltow Canal in Baumschulenweg crossed into West Berlin; the site had neither guards nor barriers.

Colour photo of a steel truss road bridge over a canal under a clear blue sky, with dry reeds in the foreground and a brick abutment on the right.
The Teltow Canal at the old Späthstraßenbrücke in Baumschulenweg in 2009, a few hundred metres from the water-authority site on the canal Photo: Lienhard Schulz. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

According to the Stasi report of 30 August 1961, a gardener employed on the site of the water authority (Wasserwirtschaft) in Baumschulenweg, which lay directly on the Teltow Canal, used his work there to break through the border at about 6.40 a.m. The Stasi found that the site was secured neither by guards nor by barriers.

About an hour later a person swam the Teltow Canal under fire at the Späthbrücke, and at 9.30 a.m. a crawler driver broke through from the 'Tanneberg' allotments; the report counted nine breakthroughs in its reporting period, more than the day before.

Sources

  1. Jahrgang 1961: Lage nach dem Bau der Berliner Mauer (14) – Bericht Nr. 500/61, 30. August 1961Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv (DDR im Blick)

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  2. 23 August 1961

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  4. 26 August 1961

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