23 September 1961 · Window jumps
Irma B. barricades her door and climbs down a fire brigade ladder
At 2 a.m. Irma B. barricaded her flat door, and the West Berlin fire brigade set a ladder against the house for her.
At about two o'clock in the morning of 23 September 1961 Irma B. escaped from her flat at Ackerstraße 43.
She had barricaded the door of her flat and informed the fire brigade in West Berlin.
The firemen put a ladder against the front of the house, and she climbed down it from the first floor to the pavement.
Sources
- Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer – Bereich B: Die Zerstörung der Stadt (Orientierungsplan und Ereignismarken), marker B 377Stiftung Berliner Mauer
- B 377 – Digital Guide, Berlin Wall MemorialStiftung Berliner Mauer
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Related escapes
5 September 1961
Karl-Heinz S. climbs down a fire brigade ladder while police hold the guards at bay
At 3 a.m. West Berlin police drew pistols and dazzled the guards with mirrors while the fire brigade set a ladder against the corner house for four escapees.
17 August 1961
The Mathern family leaves by the ground floor
Alarmed when the first front doors on Bernauer Straße were locked, the Mathern family fled from their ground-floor flat on 17 August 1961.
19 August 1961
Rudolf Urban's rope descent from Bernauer Straße 1
Rudolf Urban and his wife let themselves down on a rope from their first-floor flat; he was badly injured and died in hospital four weeks later.
22 August 1961
Ida Siekmann, first death at the Berlin Wall
Nine days after the border was sealed, the 58-year-old nurse jumped from her third-floor window onto the West Berlin pavement and died of her injuries.
