Berlin Wall Escapes1961–1989

7 October 1989 · Over the wall · Bernauer Straße

Gabriela M. tries to escape on the GDR's anniversary night

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

  1. Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer – Bereich C: Der Bau der Mauer (Orientierungsplan und Ereignismarken), marker C 386Stiftung Berliner Mauer
  2. C 386 – Digital Guide, Berlin Wall MemorialStiftung Berliner Mauer
  3. C 386 – Digitaler Tourguide, Gedenkstätte Berliner MauerStiftung Berliner Mauer

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Related escapes

  1. 15 January 1966

    Gerd L. turns back under warning shots and hides at Brunnenstraße 141

    A local resident reached the border strip, then under construction; warning shots turned him back and he was arrested on the top floor of Brunnenstraße 141.

    Over the wall · Stopped · Mitte

  2. 23 July 1971

    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.

    Over the wall · Stopped · Mitte

  3. 14 December 1973

    Klaus-Peter K. is caught on the patrol road

    Klaus-Peter K. got over the inner wall and the signal fence at Brunnenstraße but was arrested at the patrol road.

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  4. 27 January 1986

    Frank K. is caught at the signal fence

    An applicant for an exit visa who worked near the border prepared tools and a change of trousers, got over the inner wall, and was arrested climbing the signal fence.

    Over the wall · Stopped · Mitte