27 December 1962 · Ziplines and cables
Circus artiste Horst Klein on the high-voltage line
A circus artiste tried to cross the Teltow Canal by climbing along a high-voltage line, lost his strength and fell onto the eastern bank, from where West Berlin firemen fetched him in a rubber dinghy.
On the night of 27 December 1962 the West Berlin fire brigade was called to the Teltow Canal at the Späthbrücke with the alarm 'person at the water'. Among the crew was fireman Werner Grützmann, who recalled the operation for rbb in 2011.
The firemen came with an engine towing a rubber dinghy. They heard a man calling quietly for help on the far side. It was about minus ten degrees; the spray from the oars froze on the boat.
On the eastern embankment they found a man lying on the ground and helped him into the boat, then rowed back to the western side. There he told them he had climbed along the high-voltage line over the canal until his strength gave out and he fell onto the bank. His name was Horst Klein and he was a circus artiste.
According to Grützmann, he learned much later that Klein soon went back to the GDR out of lovesickness, served two years for 'Republikflucht' and was then expelled to the West again.
Sources
Whose account is this? Told from witness accounts only.
Witness accounts
- Artist flüchtet spektakulär (27. Dezember 1962) – video and transcriptrbb – Geschichte der Berliner Mauer (berlin-mauer.de)
- Artist flüchtet – subtitles of the rbb eyewitness videorbb – Geschichte der Berliner Mauer (berlin-mauer.de)
Facts checked against the sources: September 2026
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Cite this page
Berlin Experiences, “Circus artiste Horst Klein on the high-voltage line”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/horst-klein-teltowkanal-power-line-1962/ (accessed [date]).
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