Berlin Wall Escapes1961–1989

November 1969 · Over the wall · Bernauer Straße

Detlef Hubert Peuker over the Wall from a Bernauer Straße yard

In November 1969 the 16-year-old Detlef Hubert Peuker, who had scouted a building on Bernauer Straße during a visit to Berlin, got over the border installations from its yard into West Berlin.

Detlef Hubert Peuker was born in Braunschweig in 1953; his family moved to the GDR in the mid-1950s, and he went to school in Jena. As a teenager he was held several times for short periods because of his long hair, clothes and music. On a visit to Berlin he scouted a building on Bernauer Straße.

In November 1969, then 16, he escaped: according to the ddr-zeitzeuge.de witness portal he went through the yard of a residential building on Bernauer Straße and over the border installations into West Berlin. He later helped his brother escape and was imprisoned for trying to bring out his brother's girlfriend.

Sources

  1. DDR-Zeitzeuge Detlef Hubert PeukerDDR-Zeitzeuge (Koordinierendes Zeitzeugenbüro, Gedenkstätte Berlin-Hohenschönhausen)
  2. Zeitzeuge Detlef Hubert PeukerZeitzeugenbüro (Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung)

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