Berlin Wall Escapes1961–1989

21 August 1961 · Guards who fled

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.

Colour photo: an old railway signal post with a white board stands in undergrowth beside a hedge and a wide road; residential blocks and trees are in the background.
The old Heidekrautbahn line at Wilhelmsruher Damm in Rosenthal in 2013; control point 4 lay by this railway in 1961 Photo: Günter Haase. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

At about 4.10 p.m. on 21 August 1961 Hauptwachtmeister Manfred E. of the Luftschutz, the GDR's civil air-defence service, deserted at control point 4. The East Berlin police journal records that he jumped from the radiator of a vehicle over the barbed wire towards West Berlin, and gives 'Mönchmühlerweg 4'; it added that the report was not yet confirmed. The Stasi report of the same day confirms that a Luftschutz Hauptwachtmeister went over to West Berlin while building the fence between control points 3 and 4.

Five hours later an Unterwachtmeister deserted from his post on the sewage fields between the same control points.

Colour photo of a row of cobbles in paving with a bronze strip reading 'Berliner Mauer 1961-1989' and a yellow autumn leaf.
Marker for the course of the Wall on the Wilhelmsruher Damm in Rosenthal (2013) Photo: Günter Haase. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Sources

  1. Stab Präsidium der Volkspolizei Berlin, Abt. Information – Journal der Handlung, 21 August 1961Chronik der Mauer (document: Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 303/26.1/239)
  2. Jahrgang 1961: Lage nach dem Bau der Berliner Mauer (5) – Bericht Nr. 470/61, 21. August 1961Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv (DDR im Blick)

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Related escapes

  1. 21 August 1961

    Under the wire on the sewage fields between control points 3 and 4

    At 9.10 p.m. on 21 August 1961 a riot-police post leader born in 1942, on duty on the sewage fields between control points 3 and 4, said he needed to relieve himself, pushed up the border wire and crawled through, taking his submachine gun and the post's logbook with him.

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

  2. 23 August 1961

    A train on the bridge: a guard slips away at control point 4

    Late on 23 August 1961 an Unterwachtmeister guarding the railway bridge at control point 4 used the moment his partner went under the bridge and a train passed over it to desert to West Berlin, where West Berlin police radio cars picked him up.

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  3. 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.

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  4. 22 August 1961

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