27 August 1965 – 28 August 1965 · Swimming
A miner swims the Spree at Mühlenstraße
In the night of 27 to 28 August 1965 a 31-year-old miner worked his way through ruined buildings in the border strip at Mühlenstraße and swam the Spree to Kreuzberg.
The stretch of the Spree along Mühlenstraße — today the site of the East Side Gallery — was the border between Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg; the river itself belonged to East Berlin.
In the night of 27 to 28 August 1965 a 31-year-old miner made his way through abandoned houses and ruins in the border area to the water's edge and swam across to West Berlin.
He left behind a bag and an identity document on the bank. The exhibition notes that how many people escaped this way at Mühlenstraße cannot be determined, while at least seven men died trying to cross the Spree in this area.
Sources
- Raus aus der DDR (Flucht im Bereich Mühlenstraße)East Side Gallery (Stiftung Berliner Mauer)
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