2 July 1962 · Over the wall

Truck driver Günter P. climbs the Wall on his first day at the site

On his first day on a guarded demolition site, a driver climbed the Wall while another truck blocked the guards' view.

In 1962 and 1963 outbuildings and side wings behind the border houses were torn down; border soldiers guarded the building workers brought in for the demolition.

Günter P. came to the site at the Kobold works for the first time as a truck driver on 2 July 1962. While another truck was manoeuvring in front of the narrow entrance and blocking the sentries' view, he climbed over the border wall next to the house at Bernauer Straße 23.

Two women working at the Kobold works saw him go and told a building worker, who in turn told one of the guards that P. had "cleared off". By then Günter P. was long gone to the West.

Sources

  1. Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer – Bereich C: Der Bau der Mauer (Orientierungsplan und Ereignismarken), marker C 397Stiftung Berliner Mauer
  2. C 397 – Digital Guide, Berlin Wall MemorialStiftung Berliner Mauer

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  1. 10 June 1962

    Helmut P. is shot at but gets over the cemetery wall

    Helmut P. chose the Sophien cemetery for its cover; two guards at Ackerstraße fired as he pulled himself up the wall, but he got over, wounded.

    Over the wall · Reached the West · Mitte

  2. 4 September 1962

    Ernst Mundt shot on the Sophien cemetery wall

    Ernst Mundt, 40, climbed onto the glass-topped wall of the Sophien cemetery on Bernauer Straße and was shot in the head by a transport police officer.

    Over the wall · Killed · Mitte

  3. 26 October 1962

    Two young men swing over the Sophien cemetery wall under fire

    Shortly before midnight two men in their early twenties used the cover of the cemetery to reach the Wall; guards at Ackerstraße 42 fired, but both got to West Berlin.

    Over the wall · Reached the West · Mitte

  4. 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.

    Over the wall · Reached the West · Mitte