Berlin Wall Escapes1961–1989

16 January 1962 · Guards who fled · Bernauer Straße

Private Klaus Sch. switches off the lights and climbs over on a stool

When his squad leader went to the next post, Gefreiter Klaus Sch. turned off the border lighting and climbed the Wall using a stool.

The western face of the Wall, scrawled with graffiti, runs along a snowy pavement; an 'Ackerstraße' street sign is in the foreground and a heap of broken masonry lies behind the Wall in front of apartment blocks.
The Wall at the corner of Bernauer Straße and Ackerstraße in 1985, with the rubble of the just-demolished Reconciliation Church behind it Photo: Werner Kremer. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

On the morning of 16 January 1962 Gefreiter Klaus Sch. was on duty at Ackerstraße.

His squad leader went over to the neighbouring post to pass on a wanted notice.

A tall white gable wall reading 'Ackerstraße' and '1961' above a large black-and-white photo of people at a low wall, with a tree-lined street and parked cars to the right.
Ackerstraße seen from Bernauer Straße in May 2015; the Berlin Wall Memorial's gable-wall mural shows a 1961 scene at this street Photo: Orderinchaos. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Klaus Sch. used the moment to switch off the border lighting and climbed over the Wall with the help of a stool.

Sources

Historians and memorials

Facts checked against the sources: September 2026

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Berlin Experiences, “Private Klaus Sch. switches off the lights and climbs over on a stool”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/klaus-sch-ackerstrasse-stool-1962/ (accessed [date]).

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