Berlin Wall Escapes1961–1989

2 September 1961 · Guards who fled

Two air-defence men building the second line at Klemkestraße cross over

At the beginning of September 1961 two members of the civil air-defence service who were building barriers behind the first line at the Klemkestraße control point deserted to West Berlin; the guards could not stop them.

Colour photo of a snow-covered street passing under a steel railway bridge on iron columns, beside a high yellow-brick railway embankment with a round signal board on top.
Klemkestraße under the S-Bahn bridges in Reinickendorf in February 1986; the Wall ran along this street, where control point 9 stood in 1961 Photo: Lothar Weber. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

According to the Stasi report of 2 September 1961, two Luftschutz members – one born in 1942 and living in Leipzig, the other born in 1938 and living in Karl-Marx-Stadt – deserted in the post area of control point 9 at Klemkestraße. They had been building fortifications behind the first line of the border, and because of this the guards on duty were unable to prevent their escape.

The report, which deals with events of 1 and 2 September, says that only a small number of breakthroughs and desertions to West Berlin or West Germany were reported in that period.

Sources

  1. Jahrgang 1961: Lage nach dem Bau der Berliner Mauer (17) – Bericht Nr. 530/61, 2. September 1961Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv (DDR im Blick)

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Related escapes

  1. 31 August 1961

    Alone on his post at Schönholz, an unsworn recruit leaves his weapon and helmet

    At about 8 p.m. on 31 August 1961 a riot-police recruit born in 1943, not yet sworn in and standing a post on his own at Provinzstraße in Schönholz, left his weapon, ammunition and helmet behind and deserted.

    Guards who fled · Reached the West · Pankow (Schönholz) → Reinickendorf

  2. 21 August 1961

    From a lorry's radiator over the wire near control point 4

    On the afternoon of 21 August 1961 a Hauptwachtmeister of the civil air-defence service, who was helping to build the border fence between control points 3 and 4, jumped from the radiator of a vehicle over the barbed wire towards West Berlin.

    Guards who fled · Reached the West · Pankow (Rosenthal) → Reinickendorf

  3. 16 August 1961

    Four riot-police cadets slip away from the barrier works at Schönefeld

    On 16 August 1961 four NCO cadets of a riot-police training unit, deployed on engineering work near the Schönefeld control point, crossed into West Berlin. Their unit only noticed when children said they had seen riot policemen on the western side.

    Guards who fled · Reached the West · Schönefeld → Neukölln (Rudow)

  4. 20 August 1961

    A militia man deserts from the wire detail at Zimmerstraße

    On the morning of 20 August 1961 a member of a workers' militia unit, a DBD party official, left the wire detail he was working with at the corner of Zimmerstraße and Wilhelmstraße and went over to West Berlin without his weapon.

    Guards who fled · Reached the West · Mitte → Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg