23 August 1961 · Over the wall

A house painter sprints from the doorway and jumps the Wall

Renovation work in the border houses carried on after 13 August; a painter working at Brunnenstraße 139 ran from the doorway and jumped the Wall four metres away.

After the Wall was built, renovation work that had already begun in the border houses was at first allowed to continue.

A painter working in the house at Brunnenstraße 139, directly behind the Wall, took advantage of this.

On 23 August 1961 he ran from the entrance of the house to the Wall, about four metres away, and jumped over it.

Sources

  1. Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer – Bereich C: Der Bau der Mauer (Orientierungsplan und Ereignismarken), marker C 399Stiftung Berliner Mauer
  2. C 399 – Digital Guide, Berlin Wall MemorialStiftung Berliner Mauer

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

  1. 6 September 1961

    Günter Tr. climbs the Wall with a company ladder

    An employee of the Murante firm in the border zone went to work as usual and then, with a woman smuggled in by a colleague, climbed the Wall on a company ladder; the colleague was arrested.

    Over the wall · Reached the West · Mitte

  2. 22 September 1961

    Truck driver Heinz K. over the glass-topped wall

    A driver for the Murante firm, which lay inside the border area, hid his truck between site huts and climbed a five-metre wall topped with broken glass.

    Over the wall · Reached the West · Mitte

  3. 22 November 1961

    Bernd Sp. leaves only his briefcase behind

    Unseen by the guards, Bernd Sp. came from the Kobold works, used a door propped against a yard wall and climbed the Wall; his forgotten briefcase gave him away the next morning.

    Over the wall · Reached the West · Mitte

  4. 13 August 1961

    Through the graveyard and the church door: Hildegard K. and her son

    On the night the border closed, a radio singer and her eldest son crept through back yards and the Elisabeth cemetery to the Reconciliation Church, whose door to West Berlin was still open.

    Over the wall · Reached the West · Mitte