Berlin Wall Escapes1961–1989

19 November 1962 · Over the wall · Treptow and Neukölln

He gets through, she is shot in the arm

At 3.40 on 19 November 1962 border guards at Baumschulenweg fired about 30 shots at two people trying to escape. The man reached West Berlin unhurt. The woman, probably hit in the arm, was arrested.

At about 3.40 on 19 November 1962 two people, a man and a woman, tried to escape to West Berlin at Baumschulenweg in Treptow, level with Wegastraße.

Border guards fired about 30 rounds from their submachine guns. The man reached West Berlin unhurt.

The woman was probably hit in the arm, and the border guards arrested her. The West Berlin police counted this as the only case that month in which a refugee had probably been wounded.

Sources

Western official records

Facts checked against the sources: November 2026

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Berlin Experiences, “He gets through, she is shot in the arm”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/wegastrasse-baumschulenweg-couple-1962/ (accessed [date]).

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