31 August 1961 · Over the wall · Staaken
Two youths leave the Volkshaus Staaken through the cloakroom window
At 3.45 p.m. on 31 August 1961 two youths climbed out of the cloakroom window of the Volkshaus in Staaken, made for the border fence and were over it before the guard alerted by a signal device arrived.
The Volkshaus in Staaken stood near the border wire on Nennhauser Damm. On 19 August a delivery van that regularly supplied it had already driven up at walking pace, accelerated at the Volkshaus and crashed through the wire barrier there into West Berlin.
At 3.45 p.m. on 31 August 1961 two youths, whose names were not known, left the Volkshaus through the cloakroom window and made for the border fence, according to the Stasi report of that day. On the way they set off a signal device. When the alerted guard arrived, the two had already climbed over the wire fence.
The report counted five people who got across into West Berlin in its reporting period, among them a former student who cut through the fence at Altglienicke.
Sources
- Jahrgang 1961: Lage nach dem Bau der Berliner Mauer (15) – Bericht Nr. 510/61, 31. August 1961Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv (DDR im Blick)
- Jahrgang 1961: Lage nach dem Bau der Berliner Mauer (3) – Bericht Nr. 457/61, 19. August 1961Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv (DDR im Blick)
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