Guards who fled
Soldiers and police sent to guard the border who crossed it themselves.
Of the 5,075 people the West Berlin police counted through the Berlin barriers between 13 August 1961 and the end of 1989, 574 were members of the GDR's armed organs.1 The largest group of them on this site is from the first weeks, when police and militia units stood on the line and built it. Conrad Schumann jumped the wire at Bernauer Straße on 15 August 1961. On 16 August four riot-police cadets doing fortification work at Schönefeld went over to West Berlin, noticed only when children reported them. On 18 August a police sergeant swam the Teltow Canal 200 metres from the Massante Bridge, and on 20 August a militia man deserted from the wire detail at Zimmerstraße.
The border system was also turned on its own guards: the Stasi placed full-time officers in the border troops and recruited informers among the soldiers to help prevent desertions.2 From 1971 the Berlin border was held by the 11,500-strong Grenzkommando Mitte, and each section was guarded by two sentries.23 Several records here turn on that pairing. In 1980 Egon B. shot his patrol leader Ulrich Steinhauer before climbing the Wall from the saddle of his bicycle; in 1988 a guard at Ostpreußendamm first removed the bolt from his partner's submachine gun; at Groß Ziethen in August 1986 two guards left their tower together, boosted each other up the four-metre wall and threw their guns back over it. On 5 January 1974 Burkhard Niering took a passport controller hostage at Checkpoint Charlie and was shot at the last barrier.
The last guards' escapes on this site are from the autumn of 1988: two guards crossed into Kladow in September, and the Ostpreußendamm guard followed in November. The Chronik der Mauer's table of all escapes through the Berlin barriers, which includes deserters and counts each year to 13 August, falls from 2,305 in 1962 to between 10 and 88 a year from 1980 to 1986; it has no figures for 1987 and 1988.1
Sources for this text
- Gelungene Fluchten aus der DDR und Ost-Berlin durch die Grenz-Sperranlagen 1961–1989Chronik der Mauer
- Das GrenzsystemChronik der Mauer
- FAQs – 36 Fragen und AntwortenChronik der Mauer
Checked October 2026. Facts taken from an escape record on this site link to that record, which lists its own sources.
72 events: 61 successful escapes, 3 partly successful escapes, 2 failed attempts and 6 fatal attempts. At least 97 people reached the West in these events.
Related methods: hidden in vehicles, false papers and disguises
August 1961
A border policeman steals patrol boat G-65 on the Havel
When the boatman left the boat for a short time, a soldier of the Groß Glienicke border unit deserted in the patrol boat G-65, taking a carbine, a machine pistol and a flare pistol with him.
August 1961
Peter Mindorf flees from his post in Klein Glienicke
An Oberwachtmeister of the Potsdam riot-police training unit, on guard in Klein Glienicke, used a toilet break to flee with his submachine gun and 80 rounds.
15 August 1961
Conrad Schumann's leap to freedom
Two days after the border was sealed, 19-year-old border policeman Conrad Schumann jumped over the barbed-wire barrier at Bernauer Straße into West Berlin, dropping his submachine gun as he went.
16 August 1961
Two policemen vanish from the Kobold works
The day after Conrad Schumann's jump, two Volkspolizei officers said to be his friends disappeared from their post on the Kobold works site at Bernauer Straße and went to the West.
16 August 1961
Four riot-police cadets slip away from the barrier works at Schönefeld
On 16 August 1961 four NCO cadets of a riot-police training unit, deployed on engineering work near the Schönefeld control point, crossed into West Berlin. Their unit only noticed when children said they had seen riot policemen on the western side.
16 August 1961
Ulrich H. goes into the bushes and does not come back
On the evening of 16 August 1961 Ulrich H., born 1942, a riot policeman on patrol between the Rudower Chaussee control point and the Kiesberg, said at about 8.30 p.m. that he was going into the bushes to relieve himself. He did not come back: he had deserted with his carbine, leaving his helmet and raincoat.
17 August 1961
Günter D. crawls under the wire while his partner sleeps
On 17 August 1961 the police found that riot-police cadet Günter D. had crawled under the barbed wire at Grüneck in Altglienicke while the second guard on the post was asleep, taking a pistol without ammunition. It was discovered at 6.05 a.m.
18 August 1961
A police sergeant swims the Teltow Canal
At 10.00 on 18 August 1961 Kurt Sch., an Oberwachtmeister in the Volkspolizei's Rummelsburg pioneer platoon, swam across the Teltow Canal to West Berlin, about 200 metres west of the Massante Bridge.
18 August 1961
Two policemen climb out of the Liesenstraße cemetery
At 17.45 on 18 August 1961 two Bereitschaftspolizei men on guard duty climbed from the Liesenstraße cemetery over the wall into Gartenstraße. A crowd and a film van from the West Berlin broadcaster SFB were on the other side.
19 August 1961
A policeman crawls under the wire at mealtime
On 19 August 1961 Volkspolizei Wachtmeister Manfred B. crawled, while food was being handed out, under the barbed wire near the Sonnenallee crossing, in full kit and carrying a submachine gun. His fellow guard's weapon jammed.
19 August 1961
Two policemen leave their carbines in Onckenstraße, then wave from a VW
Late on 19 August 1961 two riot policemen deserted from Onckenstraße in Treptow to West Berlin, leaving their carbines behind. Three days later they turned up at the Wiener Brücke in a Volkswagen and waved to a guard of their old unit.
20 August 1961
A militia man deserts from the wire detail at Zimmerstraße
On the morning of 20 August 1961 a member of a workers' militia unit, a DBD party official, left the wire detail he was working with at the corner of Zimmerstraße and Wilhelmstraße and went over to West Berlin without his weapon.
21 August 1961
From a lorry's radiator over the wire near control point 4
On the afternoon of 21 August 1961 a Hauptwachtmeister of the civil air-defence service, who was helping to build the border fence between control points 3 and 4, jumped from the radiator of a vehicle over the barbed wire towards West Berlin.
21 August 1961
Under the wire on the sewage fields between control points 3 and 4
At 9.10 p.m. on 21 August 1961 a riot-police post leader born in 1942, on duty on the sewage fields between control points 3 and 4, said he needed to relieve himself, pushed up the border wire and crawled through, taking his submachine gun and the post's logbook with him.
22 August 1961
A patrolman excuses himself at Kiefholzstraße and does not come back
Shortly after midnight on 22 August 1961 an Unterwachtmeister on patrol at the corner of Kiefholzstraße and Dammweg left his unit, saying he needed to relieve himself, and deserted.
22 August 1961
Two pioneers go through the fence they were building at Grüneck
On 22 August 1961 two riot-police pioneers who were putting up fences at the Grüneck allotments in Altglienicke went through the wire into West Berlin; the superior present could not stop them.
23 August 1961
Two guards use a piece of fence as a ladder
Just after midnight on 23 August 1961 two Bereitschaftspolizei men posted in the courtyard of Kremmener Straße 5 leaned a piece of fence against the wall and climbed over to West Berlin with their weapons.
23 August 1961
A train on the bridge: a guard slips away at control point 4
Late on 23 August 1961 an Unterwachtmeister guarding the railway bridge at control point 4 used the moment his partner went under the bridge and a train passed over it to desert to West Berlin, where West Berlin police radio cars picked him up.
25 August 1961
Two unsworn policemen leave with their carbines between Dammweg and Karpfenteichstraße
Between 7.57 and 8 a.m. on 25 August 1961 two riot policemen who had not yet been sworn in deserted together from their post between Dammweg and Karpfenteichstraße, taking their carbines and ammunition.
25 August 1961
Put back on the front line against advice, a policeman deserts at Harzer Straße
At about 3 p.m. on 25 August 1961 a riot policeman deserted from a patrol at Harzer Straße and Onckenstraße. Three days earlier the Stasi had told his battalion commander to keep him out of the front line, but the commander had put him back there against his company commander's advice.
25 August 1961
A group leader sends his partner away at the Britzer Brücke
At about 0.30 a.m. on 25 August 1961 a riot-police group leader at the Britzer Brücke control point sent his second man off after an officer on a flimsy excuse and used the moment to desert.
27 August 1961
A railway policeman at Bornholmer Straße asks to relieve himself and is gone
At about 3.30 a.m. on 27 August 1961 an Oberwachtmeister of the railway police on duty at the Bornholmer Straße control point told his superior he needed to relieve himself and did not return, taking his carbine, pistol and truncheon.
28 August 1961
A policeman sends his partner to watch the West Berlin police car, then climbs the fence
At 1.25 a.m. on 28 August 1961 a riot policeman on double patrol in Heidelberger Straße told his partner to go and see what a West Berlin police car was doing, climbed the fence while he was gone and was driven away by the West Berlin police. He was probably Burghardt A., born in 1943.
28 August 1961
A night patrol at Kiefholzstraße does not come back
At about 3 a.m. on 28 August 1961 two riot policemen patrolling Kiefholzstraße in Treptow deserted together, half an hour after their last check.
29 August 1961
Called over from the West, a guard at Sebastianstraße goes
On 29 August 1961 a riot policeman guarding Sebastianstraße, urged from the West Berlin side to come over 'before it is too late', deserted as soon as his partner turned away.
30 August 1961
Standing 150 metres from his partner, a policeman crosses at the Köllnische Heide
At about 1 p.m. on 30 August 1961 a riot policeman who, against orders, was standing about 150 metres from his partner in broken ground at the Köllnische Heide deserted to West Berlin.
30 August 1961
Two patrolmen at Kiefholzstraße had told their comrades the day before
At about 8.35 a.m. on 30 August 1961 two riot policemen deserted during a patrol on Kiefholzstraße. They had told two comrades of their plan the day before; the two had kept quiet and were arrested afterwards.
31 August 1961
A patrol leader at Schönwalde deserts with his carbine
On the morning of 31 August 1961 a Border Police lance corporal born in 1940 deserted from his post near Schönwalde with his carbine and 60 rounds; the Stasi listed him among the desertions to West Berlin.
31 August 1961
Alone on his post at Schönholz, an unsworn recruit leaves his weapon and helmet
At about 8 p.m. on 31 August 1961 a riot-police recruit born in 1943, not yet sworn in and standing a post on his own at Provinzstraße in Schönholz, left his weapon, ammunition and helmet behind and deserted.
2 September 1961
Two air-defence men building the second line at Klemkestraße cross over
At the beginning of September 1961 two members of the civil air-defence service who were building barriers behind the first line at the Klemkestraße control point deserted to West Berlin; the guards could not stop them.
3 September 1961
A policeman crawls through the fence at Treptower Straße
At 11.20 p.m. on 3 September 1961 a riot-police Unterwachtmeister crawled through the barrier fence at Treptower Straße onto West Berlin ground.
6 September 1961
Two guards let a woman with a baby through at the Puschkinallee
A woman whose husband was waiting on the other side asked a guard to let her through. He told her to come back after dark – and at 8.30 p.m. she crossed with a four-month-old child and a boy.
10 September 1961
Four riot-police pioneers walk off during the breakfast break at Stolpe-Süd
On 10 September 1961 four men of the pioneer platoon of the Potsdam riot-police training unit, deployed on engineering work at Stolpe-Süd, crossed into West Berlin during their breakfast break; a fifth turned back and reported them.
10 September 1961
Policeman Gerd Sommerlatte flees at the Brandenburg Gate and is kidnapped back
Posted to the Brandenburg Gate after the border closed, an 18-year-old policeman fled across the wire with his weapon rather than risk having to shoot at people. Less than three weeks later the Stasi had him abducted back to East Berlin.
12 October 1961
A policeman who fled in the night is searched for in a railway keeper’s house at Wilhelmsruh
At about 3 a.m. on 12 October 1961 ten East German Vopo men crossed into West Berlin at Wilhelmsruh S-Bahn station to search an inhabited railway keeper's house for a Vopo who had fled during the night; West Berlin police sent them back.
22 October 1961
Dog handler Werner K. slips away over the cemetery wall
While training his successor as a dog handler in the Sophien cemetery, Private Werner K. made an excuse to leave his comrade and disappeared over the wall.
23 October 1961
Border policeman Lutz M. jumps from Bernauer Straße 2
A border policeman who found the prospect of shooting at refugees unbearable slipped away from his post, broke into an evacuated flat at Bernauer Straße 2 and jumped to the western pavement.
6 December 1961
Gefreiter K. climbs the Wall behind a sight screen at Strelitzer Straße
Posted directly at the Wall, out of his squad leader's sight behind a screen, a transferred riot policeman climbed over just after midday.
19 December 1961
Georg Feldhahn – a border policeman's escape at the Massante Bridge
A 20-year-old border policeman on patrol at the Teltow Canal slipped away towards the bridge to West Berlin and vanished; the GDR assumed he had escaped, until his body was found in the canal in March 1962.
25 December 1961
Michael Mara and a fellow patrol leader climb the wire at Kohlhasenbrück on Christmas morning
A young editor called up for border duty after 13 August 1961 fled on Christmas morning 1961 with a fellow soldier, climbing the wire away from the Kohlhasenbrück checkpoint and running into a West Berlin police hut still carrying his carbine.
29 December 1961
The boot left in the barbed wire
A border guard climbed the Sophien cemetery wall into West Berlin; when he got stuck in the barbed wire, two West Berlin policemen pulled him over, leaving one of his boots behind.
16 January 1962
Private Klaus Sch. switches off the lights and climbs over on a stool
When his squad leader went to the next post, Gefreiter Klaus Sch. turned off the border lighting and climbed the Wall using a stool.
16 February 1962
NCO Egon Z. knocks down his squad leader and flees with two women
A border troops NCO knocked out his squad leader and escaped near Gartenstraße together with his sister and her friend.
21 February 1962
Rudi Thurow leads refugees to Steinstücken
Border policeman Rudi Thurow removed the firing pins from his two comrades' submachine guns and fled with three acquaintances to the West Berlin exclave of Steinstücken; there was an exchange of fire but nobody was hurt.
3 April 1962
A border guard is shot down 15 metres from the line at Dreilinden
On 3 April 1962 a GDR border guard tried to reach West Berlin at the Dreilinden control point. A comrade set his dog on him and shot him. Badly wounded, he lay 15 metres from the border until he was taken away.
18 April 1962
Deserting cadets' gunfight at Griebnitzsee
Two armed NVA officer cadets tried to desert to West Berlin across disused S-Bahn land at Griebnitzsee; in the exchange of fire border guard Jörgen Schmidtchen and cadet Peter Böhme were killed, while Wolfgang G. reached the West.
1 August 1962
Conscript Jörg S. stages a check and escapes with two friends
A conscript on rear-guard duty waved two friends through, lured his squad leader into a back yard where one of them knocked him down with a spade, and the three ran for the Wall; a fourth friend gave up when shots were fired.
23 August 1962
Hans-Dieter Wesa shot at Bornholmer Straße station
Transport policeman Hans-Dieter Wesa, 19, climbed the border fence at the closed Bornholmer Straße S-Bahn station and was shot dead by his post partner after he had already reached West Berlin territory.
4 September 1963
Jürgen Cr. jumps from the new wall
While guarding engineers who were building a second concrete wall at Bernauer Straße, conscript Jürgen Cr. jumped over the front wall into West Berlin when his partner went off to get cigarettes.
9 September 1963
Two border policemen escape from their bulldozer in Falkensee
Two GDR border policemen, aged 20 and 23, who had been levelling the death strip at Falkensee drove their bulldozer up to the barriers, climbed the fences and reached West Berlin unnoticed.
18 October 1963
Border policeman crashes a crawler tractor through the wire
A 22-year-old border policeman assigned to levelling work broke through the wire barriers between Wilhelmsruh and Reinickendorf with a crawler tractor; when it stuck halfway, he continued to the West on foot.
19 January 1964
A guard knocks his comrade off the watchtower and gets stuck between wall and fence
A border soldier struck his post leader with his machine pistol, climbed the Wall with the watchtower ladder and fired at a motorcycle patrol – but he landed in the strip between the Wall and the actual border fence and gave up after warning shots.
5 November 1965
Two young conscripts vanish in the fog at Bergmann-Borsig
A two-man patrol of new conscripts from the same home town climbed the fence and the new concrete wall at Wilhelmsruh in thick fog and took their submachine guns with them.
31 December 1965
Two conscripts flee on New Year's Eve at Gartenstraße
On New Year's Eve 1965 two conscript border soldiers posted at Gartenstraße ran round the S-Bahn entrance, forced their way through barbed-wire and mesh fences and jumped down into West Berlin.
19 March 1966
Two NCOs run for the border at Kohlhasenbrück – one gets through
NVA NCOs Willi Marzahn and Eberhard M. took weapons from their barracks and ran through the death strip near Steinstücken; in a firefight Eberhard M. reached West Berlin, while Marzahn died of a head wound.
23 March 1966
"Now there are two fewer of you!"
Two conscripts on duty at Eberswalder Straße broke open a door in the sight screen, climbed onto the freight-yard wall and jumped into the West; their comrades only noticed when a West Berlin policeman shouted across.
25 April 1966
Michael Kollender – a soldier's flight from guard duty
Conscript Michael Kollender left his sentry post in uniform and ran for the Teltow Canal; four guards fired 109 rounds and he was hit a few metres from the border; he died in the People's Police hospital.
29 October 1968
After a night of drinking, a deputy company commander climbs out with a painter's ladder
Facing a dressing-down for a drunken farewell party, the deputy commander and party secretary of a border company crawled through the compound fence, took a painter's ladder from a house and climbed into West Berlin in uniform with his pistol.
29 October 1968
The boat commander who went ashore at the fairy-tale garden
On a patrol along the Havel at Sacrow, a boat commander asked to land to relieve himself – right where the land border met the water – went ashore and did not come back.
15 November 1968
Deserting policeman and border soldier die near Klein Glienicke
A 21-year-old Volkspolizist deserting towards West Berlin opened fire on a border patrol vehicle in Babelsberg Park, killing driver Rolf Henniger, and was himself shot dead by the patrol leader.
7 July 1970
Willi Born – a young soldier's flight ends in the Bergfelde woods
Nineteen-year-old conscript Willi Born left his unit and tried to reach West Berlin near Bergfelde; when border soldiers cornered him in a strip of woodland he took his own life.
4 July 1971
An off-duty lieutenant climbs out at Stolpe-Süd
A platoon leader of the border troops, born in 1946, went home after a dance, then climbed the Wall in the Stolpe-Süd section, where he lived, with a wooden ladder while guards fired 20 shots.
5 January 1974
Burkhard Niering's hostage escape attempt at Checkpoint Charlie
Burkhard Niering, a conscript in the Volkspolizei alert units, left his guard post with his submachine gun, took a Stasi passport controller hostage at Checkpoint Charlie and tried to push through to the West. He was shot at the last barrier.
11 June 1978 – 17 June 1978
Two guards in one week dart through the Fichtewiese gate
West Berlin allotment holders reached their gardens in the Fichtewiese exclave through a gate in the Wall, with GDR guards checking their passes. On 11 and 17 June 1978 two of those guards simply ran through the door into the British sector.
4 November 1980
Egon B.'s desertion and the death of Ulrich Steinhauer
Border soldier Egon B. disconnected the border communication system, shot his patrol leader Ulrich Steinhauer and climbed the Wall from the saddle of his service bicycle into Spandau; a West Berlin court later convicted him of manslaughter.
23 December 1983
Two border guards meant to watch each other swim the Teltow Canal together
At about 1 a.m. on 23 December 1983 two East German border guards, paired so that each could watch the other, swam the Teltow Canal in uniform to a suburb in the American sector. They flagged down a car and were driven to a café, from where they called the police.
17 August 1986
Two border guards climb the Wall at Groß Ziethen and celebrate in a West Berlin tavern
Days after the Wall's 25th anniversary, two East German border guards left their watchtower, helped each other up the Wall between Groß Ziethen and Neukölln, threw their guns back into the East and went to a West Berlin tavern.
27 September 1986
A tower guard climbs the fence at the Spree behind the Reichstag
At midday on a Saturday a 22-year-old East German soldier on watch near the Brandenburg Gate slipped away while his partner was briefly gone and climbed a metal fence on the Spree behind the Reichstag into West Berlin.
July 1987
Jens Bernhardt waits until his partner falls asleep and climbs the fence into Spandau
In July 1987 a young conscript border guard hid his sleeping tower partner's ammunition at 3 a.m., climbed down and pulled himself over the steel-mesh fence into Spandau with metal hooks. He later spoke publicly about how the shoot-to-kill order was applied.
6 July 1987
A border guard in camouflage runs through the Spandau forest under fire
On Monday 6 July 1987 an East German border guard in a camouflage suit ran through the Spandau forest in north-west Berlin and reached West Berlin, dodging about 30 rounds of gunfire.
3 September 1988
Two border guards cross from the Potsdam district to Kladow
On 3 September 1988 two members of the GDR border troops on duty in the Potsdam district crossed into Kladow, in the south-west of West Berlin.
28 November 1988
A border guard disables his partner's gun and crosses at Ostpreußendamm
On 28 November 1988 a member of the GDR border troops fled to West Berlin with his weapon at the Ostpreußendamm in Steglitz, after removing the bolt from his patrol partner's submachine gun.