Berlin Wall Escapes1961–1989

29 August 1961 · Over the wall

A mother climbs the wall at Lohmühlenstraße with her child, helped from the West

On 29 August 1961 a woman climbed over the wall at Lohmühlenstraße in Treptow with her child while people on the West Berlin side helped her.

Colour photo from a raised bank over a long graffiti-covered wall: behind it a sandy border strip with a watchtower and lamp posts runs past a lone red-brick apartment house, with more buildings and trees beyond.
The Wall along Lohmühlenstraße in Treptow in March 1987, seen from West Berlin Photo: Roehrensee. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

On 19 August 1961 the East Berlin police had noted two places in Lohmühlenstraße in Treptow – a haulage and garage business and a storage yard – where people could be smuggled across; from the storage yard, pipes about 50 cm across led over the Landwehrkanal into the Western sector.

According to the Stasi report of 29 August 1961, a woman climbed over the wall at Lohmühlenstraße with her child, helped from the West Berlin side. The guards responsible had not stayed in their assigned section.

The same report records that a man jumped the wall at Melchiorstraße/Adalbertstraße, and that in Staaken a drunk Bundeswehr soldier crossed the other way and was arrested.

Sources

  1. Jahrgang 1961: Lage nach dem Bau der Berliner Mauer (13) – Bericht Nr. 496/61, 29. August 1961Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv (DDR im Blick)
  2. Stab Präsidium der Volkspolizei Berlin, Abt. Information – Journal der Handlung, 19 August 1961Chronik der Mauer (document: Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 303/26.1/239)

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Related escapes

  1. 26 August 1961

    Round the guards at Heidelberger Straße

    At about 6.15 p.m. on 26 August 1961 a man and a woman got into West Berlin in Heidelberger Straße by going round the posts; at the same time another woman broke through the barrier there.

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

  2. 13 August 1961

    Helga W. gets through during the identity check at Lohmühlenstraße

    In a report logged at 5.30 a.m. on 13 August 1961 the Treptow police recorded that Helga W., born in 1939, had got into West Berlin during the identity-card check at the Lohmühlenstraße crossing; her identity card stayed with the police.

    Over the wall · Reached the West · Treptow-Köpenick (Alt-Treptow) → Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg / Neukölln

  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. 17 August 1961

    Out of No. 79, over the fence and into the soap shop opposite

    In a report logged at 11.30 a.m. on 17 August 1961 the Treptow police recorded that a man had run out of Heidelberger Straße 79, jumped the barrier fence and gone into a soap shop on the opposite, West Berlin side of the street.

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