17 August 1961 · Window jumps · Bernauer Straße
The Mathern family leaves by the ground floor
Alarmed when the first front doors on Bernauer Straße were locked, the Mathern family fled from their ground-floor flat on 17 August 1961.
A few days after the border was closed, the authorities began locking the front doors of the houses on Bernauer Straße to stop further escapes.
Alarmed by this, the Mathern family fled from their ground-floor home at Bernauer Straße 11 on 17 August 1961.
The escape was photographed by Horst Siegmann; the photograph (Landesarchiv Berlin) is shown at the memorial.
Sources
Whose account is this? Told from historical research only.
Historians and memorials
- Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer – Bereich B: Die Zerstörung der Stadt (Orientierungsplan und Ereignismarken), marker B 344Stiftung Berliner Mauer
- B 344 – Digital Guide, Berlin Wall MemorialStiftung Berliner Mauer
Facts checked against the sources: September 2026
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Cite this page
Berlin Experiences, “The Mathern family leaves by the ground floor”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/mathern-family-bernauer-strasse-11-1961/ (accessed [date]).
Related escapes
24 August 1961
Parents and 14-year-old daughter rope down from Bernauer Straße 10
Probably on 24 August 1961 a married couple and their 14-year-old daughter let themselves down on a rope from a first-floor window.
19 September 1961
Heavily pregnant Helga Knittel jumps first
The Knittel family called the West Berlin fire brigade, then jumped one after another from their second-floor window into its net: first the heavily pregnant mother, then the daughter, then the father.
19 September 1961
Three generations jump into the net at Bernauer Straße 10
At about 11.30 p.m. Mrs K., her daughter-in-law and her grandson Detlef jumped from the second floor into a West Berlin fire brigade net.
19 September 1961
Erich B.'s family jumps from Bernauer Straße 42
A family of five from Swinemünder Straße 23 jumped from the first floor of the neighbouring house into a fire brigade net; the father broke his thigh.
