Berlin Wall Escapes1961–1989

7 October 1989 · Over the wall · Bernauer Straße

Gabriela M. tries to escape while East Berlin demonstrates

While thousands demonstrated in East Berlin on 7 October 1989, a young woman from Eberswalde tried to escape at Brunnenstraße and was arrested just before midnight.

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

On the evening of 7 October 1989 thousands of people demonstrated for freedom and reforms in the centre of East Berlin.

That same evening Gabriela M., a young woman from Eberswalde, tried to escape to the West at Brunnenstraße.

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 border troops arrested her shortly before midnight, about a month before the Wall was opened.

Sources

Historians and memorials

Facts checked against the sources: September 2026

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Berlin Experiences, “Gabriela M. tries to escape while East Berlin demonstrates”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/gabriela-m-brunnenstrasse-1989/ (accessed [date]).

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