6 September 1961 · Over the wall

Günter Tr. climbs the Wall with a company ladder

An employee of the Murante firm in the border zone went to work as usual and then, with a woman smuggled in by a colleague, climbed the Wall on a company ladder; the colleague was arrested.

Günter Tr. worked for the Murante company inside the border area. On the morning of 6 September 1961 he came to work as usual and was checked by the guards.

His workmate Günter W. smuggled "his wife" into the border area unnoticed. Together with her, Günter Tr. climbed over the wall between the houses at Bernauer Straße 11 and 13 using a ladder belonging to the firm.

Shortly afterwards, on the instructions of the Ministry for State Security, border police arrested the colleague W.

Sources

  1. Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer – Bereich B: Die Zerstörung der Stadt (Orientierungsplan und Ereignismarken), marker B 379Stiftung Berliner Mauer
  2. B 379 – Digital Guide, Berlin Wall MemorialStiftung Berliner Mauer

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  1. 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

  2. 22 September 1961

    Truck driver Heinz K. over the glass-topped wall

    A driver for the Murante firm, which lay inside the border area, hid his truck between site huts and climbed a five-metre wall topped with broken glass.

    Over the wall · Reached the West · Mitte

  3. 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.

    Over the wall · Reached the West · Mitte

  4. 8 September 1961

    A young man dashes from a bakery while a photographer distracts the guards

    While sentries were checking the papers of an East Berlin magazine photographer, a young man stepped out of a bakery by the Wall and climbed over.

    Over the wall · Reached the West · Mitte