Berlin Wall Escapes1961–1989

1 September 1961 · Over the wall · Hennigsdorf, Nieder Neuendorf and the Havel

Three teenagers from Legebruch run for the border – one gets through

Shortly after midnight on 1 September 1961 three young people from Legebruch tried to break through at Hennigsdorf; guards fired 27 shots, arrested a girl and a boy, and the third youth reached West Berlin.

Colour photo from an overgrown railway embankment with an old rail in the foreground: behind a concrete wall lies a wide sandy border strip with lamp posts, a watchtower, a white inner wall and a fence, with woods beyond.
The border installations at Heiligensee, the West Berlin side of the Hennigsdorf border section, in March 1987 Photo: Roehrensee. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

At about 0.10 a.m. on 1 September 1961 the border alarm went off in the Hennigsdorf section of the Groß Glienicke border unit, on the north-western edge of West Berlin.

During the operation the guards arrested a girl and a boy from Legebruch as they tried to break through to West Berlin. A third youth, also from Legebruch, made it across.

The guards fired 27 shots. The Stasi situation report written that day could not say whether the youth who escaped had been hit.

Sources

GDR records

Facts checked against the sources: September 2026

Spotted an error, or know more about this story? Email us a correction or addition

Cite this page

Berlin Experiences, “Three teenagers from Legebruch run for the border – one gets through”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/legebruch-youths-hennigsdorf-1961/ (accessed [date]).

Related escapes

  1. 31 August 1961

    Two youths leave the Volkshaus Staaken through the cloakroom window

    At 3.45 p.m. on 31 August 1961 two youths climbed out of the cloakroom window of the Volkshaus in Staaken, made for the border fence and were over it before the guard alerted by a signal device arrived.

    Over the wall · Reached the West · Spandau (Staaken)

  2. 31 August 1961

    A former FU student cuts the fence at the Nibelungenweg

    At about 6.50 p.m. on 31 August 1961 a man born in 1939 who had been a student at the Free University in West Berlin cut through the wire fence at the Nibelungenweg in Altglienicke; the guards noticed only when he was already in the West.

    Over the wall · Reached the West · Treptow-Köpenick (Altglienicke) → Neukölln (Rudow)

  3. 16 August 1961

    Four men are caught on the timber yard in Wildenbruchstraße

    On 16 August 1961 riot police caught four men born in 1943 and 1944, from Oberschöneweide, Kaulsdorf and Mahlsdorf, as they tried to get into West Berlin over the timber yard in Wildenbruchstraße, Treptow.

    Over the wall · Stopped · Treptow-Köpenick (Alt-Treptow) → Neukölln

  4. 20 August 1961

    A shot is fired at a man with a rucksack crossing the tracks near Wilhelmsruh

    At 7.50 p.m. on 20 August 1961 a man with a rucksack broke through over the railway line about 300 m from Wilhelmsruh station into West Berlin; an aimed carbine shot was fired at him.

    Over the wall · Reached the West · Pankow (Wilhelmsruh) → Reinickendorf