19 February 1962 · Window jumps
Scraping out the mortar by candlelight at Bernauer Straße 46
Guards found a hole broken through a bricked-up first-floor window; a man had apparently scratched out the joints with nails by candlelight and jumped.
On the afternoon of 19 February 1962 border guards discovered that a bricked-up window on the first floor of Bernauer Straße 46 had been broken through.
The guards concluded that a man had escaped there.
He had apparently worked by candlelight, scratching the mortar out of the joints with nails, and had finally jumped into the West.
Sources
- Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer – Bereich D: Alltag an der Mauer (Orientierungsplan und Ereignismarken), marker D 445Stiftung Berliner Mauer
- D 445 – Digital Guide, Berlin Wall MemorialStiftung Berliner Mauer
Spotted an error, or know more about this story? Email us a correction or addition
Related escapes
17 September 1962
West Berlin police open a cellar window for three young men
While a West Berlin officer held the guards' observation post at gunpoint, police broke open a walled-up cellar window and three young men climbed out.
29 January 1962
Fake chimney sweep abseils from Bernauer Straße 13
Dressed as a chimney sweep, a young man walked past the guards into an emptied border house, broke through a bricked-up attic window and let himself down on his sweep's rope.
29 September 1961
Gerhard D.'s family escapes through a bricked-up cellar window
A neighbour reported West Berlin police loading things into a car; East Berlin police found the family's walled-up cellar window broken open and the four of them gone.
5 December 1961
Through a hole in a bricked-up window at Bernauer Straße 2
A 27-year-old man crept through back yards into the cleared border houses, knocked bricks out of a walled-up window and dropped about seven metres to the pavement.