Berlin Wall Escapes1961–1989

22 February 1971 · Over the wall

75 shots miss – and the escaper is caught in a hallway on Provinzstraße

A young bricklayer got through every barrier to within three metres of the Wall at Schönholz. Guards fired 75 rounds without hitting him; he turned back and was caught by police in a hallway.

Black-and-white aerial photo of a wide, snow-covered border strip running diagonally between allotments and houses above and apartment blocks and a railway below.
Aerial view of the snow-covered border strip between Schönholz (top) and Reinickendorf (bottom), March 1980; the Provinzstraße, cut by the strip, passes under the railway at bottom right Photo: Willy Pragher. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

At about 8.20 p.m. on 22 February 1971 a bricklayer from Berlin-Weißensee approached the border from the direction of Klemkestraße in Berlin-Schönholz. He crossed the hinterland fence, a signal field, a signal device, the control strip and the anti-vehicle obstacles without incident and got to within three metres of the Wall – at a spot where the dog run at Klemkestraße ended and there was no spike field.

A post leader at the so-called bunker site saw him from about 350 metres and fired 30 rounds, missing. The man then moved along the Wall towards Schützenstraße, where three guards at a reporting point opened fire from about 200 metres with another 45 rounds, again without hitting him.

He then turned back into the East Berlin hinterland and was arrested by Volkspolizei officers securing the area, in the hallway of Provinzstraße 74. The Stasi's own report concluded that he knew the section well, and that he could very probably have been caught even without the 'unsuccessful use of high firepower'.

Sources

  1. Jahrgang 1971: Verhinderter Grenzübertritt DDR–Westberlin am 24.2.1971 – Information Nr. 152/71, 24 February 1971Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv (DDR im Blick)

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