Berlin Wall Escapes1961–1989

23 July 1971 · Over the wall · Bernauer Straße

Shots stop an escape at Brunnenstraße

At about 3.20 a.m. on 23 July 1971 border guards fired on a man trying to escape at Brunnenstraße and arrested him.

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, now part of the Berlin Wall Memorial Photo: Francesco Adami. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

At about 3.20 a.m. on 23 July 1971 a man tried to escape across the border at Brunnenstraße, by Bernauer Straße.

The border guards stopped him by shooting at him. He was arrested.

Close-up of a pavement: a double row of cobblestones set between grey paving slabs, with a metal plate in the row reading 'Berliner Mauer 1961 - 1989'.
A double row of cobbles with a plate reading 'Berliner Mauer 1961–1989' marks the line of the Wall across Brunnenstraße (2018) Photo: Andrzej Otrębski. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Berlin Wall Memorial records the event with marker C 406; it does not name the man.

Sources

Historians and memorials

Facts checked against the sources: September 2026

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Cite this page

Berlin Experiences, “Shots stop an escape at Brunnenstraße”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/brunnenstrasse-shots-1971/ (accessed [date]).

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