4 November 1961 · Over the wall
Günter A. climbs the Wall under machine-pistol fire
Seeing three guards chatting 40 metres from the Wall, Günter A. sprinted from the Kobold works to the Wall at Brunnenstraße; possibly hit by a burst of fire, he fell back, got up, climbed again and dropped into the West.
On 4 November 1961 three border guards at Brunnenstraße were standing together about 40 metres from the border wall, leaving it unwatched. Günter A. used the moment to run from the grounds of the Kobold works towards the Wall.
He was spotted when he reached the first fence, eight metres before the Wall, and ordered to stop. He climbed the obstacle and was trying to scale the Wall when the guards opened fire; two of them fired several bursts from their submachine guns.
Possibly hit by a burst when he had almost climbed the Wall, he fell back onto the eastern side. He got up, climbed the Wall again and fell into the West with his hands raised. Shortly afterwards he was taken away by ambulance.
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Related escapes
22 November 1961
Bernd Sp. leaves only his briefcase behind
Unseen by the guards, Bernd Sp. came from the Kobold works, used a door propped against a yard wall and climbed the Wall; his forgotten briefcase gave him away the next morning.
23 August 1961
A house painter sprints from the doorway and jumps the Wall
Renovation work in the border houses carried on after 13 August; a painter working at Brunnenstraße 139 ran from the doorway and jumped the Wall four metres away.
13 August 1961
Through the graveyard and the church door: Hildegard K. and her son
On the night the border closed, a radio singer and her eldest son crept through back yards and the Elisabeth cemetery to the Reconciliation Church, whose door to West Berlin was still open.
6 September 1961
Günter Tr. climbs the Wall with a company ladder
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