13 September 1961 · Window jumps
Fire-net escapes at Harzer Straße, Treptow
Two men escaped from Harzer Straße 109 into a fire brigade net, but two hours later East Berlin police used a water cannon and tear gas to stop two women jumping from No. 117.
The houses on Harzer Straße stood in the East Berlin district of Treptow, directly on the sector border with Neukölln. On 13 September 1961 about 250 families living in twenty buildings on the street were forcibly moved out.
That day two men in the building at Harzer Straße 109 got away to West Berlin by jumping into a rescue net held by the West Berlin fire brigade.
Around 2 p.m. the firefighters were back with their net under a window of Harzer Straße 117, where two women were trying to escape. East Berlin border police turned a water cannon on them and threw tear gas with explosive charges. The firefighters had to drop the net and the women's escape failed.
Sources
- Gescheiterte Sprungtuch-Flucht in Treptow, 13. September 1961Chronik der Mauer
- Chronik 1961 – SeptemberChronik der Mauer
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