Berlin Wall Escapes1961–1989

28 August 1961 · Window jumps · Bernauer Straße

Dieter R. jumps from Bruno P.'s flat

Unseen by the guards, Dieter R. got into the flat of Bruno P. – who, investigators found, had already fled – and jumped from a second-floor window.

Sepia photo of an old tram on a cobbled street, with tall tenement houses whose ground-floor windows are bricked up on the right and a screen wall across the street behind.
Bernauer Straße at Wolliner Straße on 8 June 1962, a few doors from No. 47b Photo: Sigurd Hilkenbach. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

On the evening of 28 August 1961 Dieter R. got into the flat of Bruno P. at Bernauer Straße 47b without the guards noticing.

A little later he jumped into the West from a second-floor window.

A large corner apartment building on Bernauer Straße in winter.
The corner house Bernauer Straße 44 / Wolliner Straße in January 1978 Photo: John Spooner. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

As the border troops found out afterwards, Bruno P. himself had already fled before.

Sources

Historians and memorials

Facts checked against the sources: September 2026

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Berlin Experiences, “Dieter R. jumps from Bruno P.'s flat”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/dieter-r-bernauer-strasse-47b-1961/ (accessed [date]).

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