Berlin Wall Escapes1961–1989

20 August 1961 · Window jumps · Bernauer Straße

Out of the window at the Brunnenstraße corner

At about 10.50 a.m. on 20 August 1961 two people left their flat on Bernauer Street at the Brunnenstraße corner through the windows and reached West Berlin.

Sunny street corner with a grass strip and path in front, low apartment buildings behind, and on the right a white gable wall labelled 'Bernauer Straße' with a large black-and-white mural and a row of photo panels.
The corner of Bernauer Straße and Brunnenstraße in April 2022, where the border houses stood; the gable mural shows a 1961 photo Photo: Francesco Adami. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Stasi report of 21 August found it remarkable that in isolated cases residents of border properties were escaping through the windows of their flats. Its first example was at control point 22, at the corner of Brunnenstraße and Bernauer Straße, where two people went through the windows of their flat into West Berlin at about 10.50 a.m. on 20 August 1961.

Ten minutes later a married couple did the same at control point 19, the corner of Wolliner Straße. The report does not give house numbers or names.

A street with a double line of cobblestones set into the road where the Wall once ran
Cobblestones marking the line of the Wall across Brunnenstraße at Bernauer Straße (2018) Photo: Andrzej Otrębski. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sources

  1. Jahrgang 1961: Lage nach dem Bau der Berliner Mauer (4) – Bericht Nr. 466/61, 21. August 1961Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv (DDR im Blick)

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