Over the wall
Ladders, ropes and sprints across the death strip, with the constant risk of being shot.
Related methods: window jumps, ziplines and cables, aircraft and balloons
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.
23 August 1961
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.
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.
8 September 1961
A young man dashes from a bakery while a photographer distracts the guards
While sentries were checking the papers of an East Berlin magazine photographer, a young man stepped out of a bakery by the Wall and climbed over.
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.
4 November 1961
Günter A. climbs the Wall under machine-pistol fire
Seeing three guards chatting 40 metres from the Wall, Günter A. sprinted from the Kobold works to the Wall at Brunnenstraße; possibly hit by a burst of fire, he fell back, got up, climbed again and dropped into the West.
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.
9 December 1961
Dieter Wohlfahrt, escape helper shot at Staaken
A 20-year-old West Berlin resident with Austrian citizenship was shot while cutting through the border fence at Staaken to help a woman escape; the plan had been betrayed and he bled to death in the border strip.
19 February 1962
Dorit Schmiel – five friends crawl towards Reinickendorf
Five young East Berliners cut through the fence in Rosenthal after midnight and crawled across the snowy border strip; guards opened fire without warning, killing 20-year-old seamstress Dorit Schmiel and wounding a 16-year-old.
29 April 1962
Horst Frank – caught in the last wire at Schönholz
Two friends from Saxony crawled for four hours across the border strip at the Schönholz allotments; Detlev W. reached West Berlin, while 19-year-old Horst Frank was spotted in the last barbed-wire fence and shot.
27 May 1962
Lutz Haberlandt – shot at the Charité
On a warm Sunday a 24-year-old bricklayer climbed from the Charité hospital grounds into the border strip; a guard on the tower of the Supreme Court shot him in the head and he lay in the bushes for about 40 minutes.
10 June 1962
Helmut P. is shot at but gets over the cemetery wall
Helmut P. chose the Sophien cemetery for its cover; two guards at Ackerstraße fired as he pulled himself up the wall, but he got over, wounded.
2 July 1962
Truck driver Günter P. climbs the Wall on his first day at the site
On his first day on a guarded demolition site, a driver climbed the Wall while another truck blocked the guards' view.
17 August 1962
Peter Fechter bleeds to death at Zimmerstraße
18-year-old bricklayer Peter Fechter was shot while climbing the Wall on Zimmerstraße and left to die at its foot for about 50 minutes in full view of West Berliners; his companion escaped.
4 September 1962
Ernst Mundt shot on the Sophien cemetery wall
Ernst Mundt, 40, climbed onto the glass-topped wall of the Sophien cemetery on Bernauer Straße and was shot in the head by a transport police officer.
26 October 1962
Two young men swing over the Sophien cemetery wall under fire
Shortly before midnight two men in their early twenties used the cover of the cemetery to reach the Wall; guards at Ackerstraße 42 fired, but both got to West Berlin.
15 January 1963
Horst Kutscher – shot 25 metres from West Berlin
On the night before the SED party congress, a 31-year-old coal worker and a colleague crawled towards the border in Johannisthal; about 25 metres from West Berlin shots were fired and Horst Kutscher was killed.
24 January 1963
Peter Kreitlow – shot by Soviet soldiers near Nieder Neuendorf
Five young men decided on the spur of the moment to flee from Hennigsdorf to West Berlin; still about two kilometres from the border, a Soviet patrol opened fire and 20-year-old Peter Kreitlow was killed.
23 August 1963 – 8 September 1963
Border guard Siegfried Widera fatally injured at the Massante Bridge
Three construction workers overpowered two East German border guards at the Massante Bridge and ran across to West Berlin; guard Siegfried Widera died of a fractured skull two weeks later.
25 November 1963
Dietmar Schulz – killed on the S-Bahn tracks north of Bornholmer Straße
A 24-year-old man from Pankow tried to reach Wedding across the railway tracks in the border zone north of Bornholmer Straße and was fatally struck by a train.
25 December 1963
Paul Schultz – shot on the Wall on Christmas Day
Two 18-year-old friends from Neubrandenburg climbed the Wall at dusk on Christmas Day 1963; Hartmut D. got across unhurt, while Paul Schultz was shot on the Wall and died that evening in a West Berlin hospital.
19 January 1964
Wounded teenager pulled over the Wall at the Brandenburg Gate
A youth ran for the Wall south of the Brandenburg Gate, was shot in the leg, limped along the Wall and was pulled over by West Berlin police officers.
27 February 1964
Walter Hayn shot beside the 'Sorgenfrei' allotments
Former People's Police officer Walter Hayn was shot just short of the fence to West Berlin's allotments; his family was told he had drowned.
17 March 1964
An unknown escapee slips past the guards at Gartenstraße
In the early morning of 17 March 1964 an unidentified person got over the border installations at Gartenstraße, about a metre from where the sentries were standing.
12 June 1964
Smoke screen at the Wilhelmsruher Damm
Under cover of smoke canisters thrown from West Berlin, a doctor and a relative abandoned their Trabant in the barrier and ran through a pre-cut gap in the fence in broad daylight.
22 June 1964
Walter Heike shot at the Invalidenfriedhof
Former customs officer Walter Heike climbed the cemetery wall and was pulling himself up the last wall before the canal when a border NCO shot him.
18 August 1964 – 20 August 1964
Wernhard Mispelhorn shot at the Schönholz allotments
Eighteen-year-old Wernhard Mispelhorn, whose girlfriend had just moved to West Berlin, suddenly ran for the fence at the Schönholz allotments and was shot in the head.
18 August 1964
Hildegard Trabant shot in the back on the disused S-Bahn line
Discovered hiding behind an elder bush on the disused railway, 37-year-old Hildegard Trabant ran away from the border and was shot in the back.
13 September 1964
Michael Meyer pulled over the Wall under fire
Badly wounded by border guards' bullets, 21-year-old Michael Meyer was hauled over the Wall on a rope by a US military police sergeant while West Berlin police and US soldiers returned fire.
3 December 1964
Joachim Mehr shot in the wire near Bergfelde
After a spontaneous decision in a pub, 19-year-old carpenter Joachim Mehr and Hans-Jürgen K. ran for the wire near Frohnau; both were wounded, and Mehr was killed by further shots after they had given up.
4 January 1965
Rope-ladder escape at Ruppiner Straße
Equipped with wire cutters, a rope ladder and a throwing line, a man of about 25 got over the Wall near Ruppiner Straße despite gunfire; stray bullets hit a West Berlin bedroom.
4 March 1965
Christian Buttkus – a snowstorm escape at Kleinmachnow
After abandoning plans to dive through the Teltow Canal, Christian Buttkus and his fiancée Ilse P. tried to cross at Kleinmachnow in a snowstorm; he was killed at the last fence and she was wounded and jailed.
7 May 1965
Roofers escape from the Klein Glienicke chapel
Two roofers repairing the chapel roof in the GDR exclave of Klein Glienicke disarmed one of their guards and crossed the Wall with a ladder into Zehlendorf.
9 June 1965 – 11 January 1966
Dieter Brandes – shot at the Nordbahnhof, died months later
Eighteen-year-old Dieter Brandes was shot a few metres from the last barrier at the Nordbahnhof; paralysed, he died in hospital seven months later.
8 August 1965
Klaus Kratzel killed in the S-Bahn tunnel at Bornholmer Straße
Having returned to East Berlin after a family quarrel, bricklayer Klaus Kratzel tried to get back to his wife and children in the West along the railway at Bornholmer Straße and was apparently struck by a train.
17 August 1965 – 18 August 1965
Klaus Garten – left to bleed in the vehicle ditch
Disillusioned SED member Klaus Garten was shot in the thigh climbing a garden fence at the border in Teltow-Seehof; guards hid him from Western view and he died after a long detour to a Stasi prison hospital.
18 October 1965
Walter Kittel – killed after surrendering at Kleinmachnow
Walter Kittel and a chance acquaintance had already given themselves up when a border troop commander fired 30 shots at him from 15 metres; the shooter later received the longest sentence of any Wall guard.
10 November 1965 – 11 November 1965
Heinz Cyrus – hunted into Gartenstraße 85
Chased from the border strip by gunfire, Heinz Cyrus fled into a building on Gartenstraße, climbed out of a fourth-floor window and fell into the courtyard; he died the next morning.
25 November 1965
Heinz Sokolowski – shot at the Wall near the Brandenburg Gate
Former journalist and political prisoner Heinz Sokolowski, 47, had reached the Wall between the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate when a guard shot him in the abdomen.
26 November 1965 – 3 December 1965
Erich Kühn shot 'blindly into the bushes' at Kiefholzstraße
Sixty-two-year-old Erich Kühn was wounded when a guard, ordered to act, fired blindly at a noise on the railway embankment at Kiefholzstraße; he died eight days later.
15 January 1966
Gerd L. turns back under warning shots and hides at Brunnenstraße 141
A local resident reached the border strip, then under construction; warning shots turned him back and he was arrested on the top floor of Brunnenstraße 141.
28 January 1966
80 shots at Manfred B.
After a marital row, Manfred B. climbed two fences; the Kremmener Straße sentries fired 80 rounds and arrested him. West Berlin answered with a poster addressed to the soldiers.
7 February 1966
Willi Block – trapped in the wire and shot at Staaken
Caught in a roll of barbed wire in full view of West Berlin police, former border policeman Willi Block was shot dead after a stand-off; the regimental commander himself fired.
14 March 1966
Children Jörg Hartmann and Lothar Schleusener shot in Treptow
Ten-year-old Jörg Hartmann and 13-year-old Lothar Schleusener slipped into the border strip in Treptow after dark and were shot by border guards; the regime told their families false stories about how they had died.
30 March 1966
Eberhard Schulz shot after standing up to surrender
Farm worker Eberhard Schulz, 20, and his friend Dieter K. had already given up when guards surrounded them; Schulz rose from the grass and was shot in the face and neck.
19 May 1966
Peter St. escapes on his birthday, losing his wallet
On his birthday Peter St. crawled from the Sophien cemetery across the border strip; a signal device failed and he got through, leaving behind a wallet containing his call-up papers.
26 July 1966
Eduard Wroblewski – 274 shots at Mahlow
Family man Eduard Wroblewski was hit twelve times from behind in the barbed wire beside the old Mahlow–Lichtenrade railway, in one of the heaviest shootings at the Wall.
7 September 1966
Klaus N. escapes his pursuers but is arrested in Brunnenstraße
Fired on after climbing the rear fence at Schönholzer Straße, Klaus N. hid behind the tank traps, slipped back to East Berlin, and was arrested by an off-duty policeman who had watched.
29 October 1966
Siegfried J. sets off an alarm and gives up at Bergstraße
A man who had moved from West to East Berlin only in 1965 climbed the cemetery wall at Bergstraße, triggered a signal device, turned back and was caught hiding in a school yard.
16 December 1966
Karl-Heinz Kube shot near the Teltow harbour
Seventeen-year-old Karl-Heinz Kube and his friend Detlev S. were one fence from West Berlin when they were fired on; Kube was killed in the ditch where they sought cover.
18 February 1968 – 19 February 1968
Elke and Dieter Weckeiser shot opposite the Reichstag
A young married couple from Fürstenwalde were fired on from a watchtower as they crawled through the first barbed wire opposite the Reichstag; both died of their wounds.
7 July 1968
Bernd B. is shot five metres from the Wall
Crawling in the shelter of the Reconciliation Church, Bernd B. got within five metres of the Wall before a guard fired a warning shot and then shot him as he tried to jump up.
27 October 1968
The guards couldn't open their window: folding-ladder escape at Schönholzer Straße
At 1 a.m. a man with a folding ladder crossed every barrier; by the time the Ruppiner Straße tower crew had smashed their jammed window and fired, he was in the West.
9 April 1969
Johannes Lange shot at the last wall on Adalbertstraße
Decorative painter Johannes Lange, 28, was killed just short of the final concrete wall on Adalbertstraße after eight border guards fired 148 rounds.
13 September 1969
Klaus-Jürgen Kluge shot on the crest of the Wall
Facing military service he loathed, 21-year-old Klaus-Jürgen Kluge tried to climb the Wall near the Bornholmer Straße crossing and was shot as he lay on its crest.
20 September 1969
Leo Lis shot near the Nordbahnhof
Leo Lis, a 45-year-old dairy worker from Saxony, had already crossed several barriers near the Nordbahnhof when border guards opened fire; he died of a chest wound.
24 October 1969
35 shots at Karl-Heinz Br. and Gerd W. in the cemetery strip
Two men crawling across the control strip were spotted from the Ackerstraße watchtower; the guards fired 35 rounds, and both were arrested unhurt behind the vehicle barrier.
21 March 1970
A 22-year-old is shot in the leg at Strelitzer Straße
A young man got almost to the foot of the Wall before the Strelitzer Straße watchtower spotted him; two aimed shots stopped him, one hitting his right leg.
25 December 1970
Christian Peter Friese shot on Christmas night at Köllnische Heide
On Christmas Eve 1970 a 22-year-old mechanic from Naumburg travelled to East Berlin and, around midnight, entered the border strip at Johannisthal. Five guards fired 98 shots; he died a few metres short of the last fence.
22 August 1971
Three Leipzig youths over the fence at Kleinmachnow
Four friends from Leipzig cut their way through the signal fence at Kleinmachnow; three climbed the expanded-metal fence in their socks and reached West Berlin, the fourth was caught.
31 December 1971
Horst Kullack shot on New Year's Eve at Großziethen
On New Year's Eve 1971 Horst Kullack climbed the rear fence at Großziethen and reached the border wall before guards shot him without warning. He died of his wounds three weeks later.
7 March 1972
Klaus Schulze killed, Dieter Krause escapes at Falkenhöh
Two young friends from Falkensee crossed the border strip at Falkenhöh with a ladder from a garden shed. Dieter Krause got over the last fence under fire; Klaus Schulze, who had tripped, was shot in the chest.
15 March 1973
Horst Einsiedel shot on a ladder at Pankow cemetery
Engineer Horst Einsiedel used two ladders from a cemetery tool shed to cross the fences at Pankow and was shot from a watchtower as he climbed the last wall. The Stasi hid his death from his wife for months.
27 April 1973
Manfred Gertzki's armoured escape attempt at the Reichstag
Wearing a home-made bulletproof vest and a steel-masked helmet, engineer Manfred Gertzki crept along the Spree bank by the Reichstag. He was shot two metres from the demarcation line and pushed into the river, where the armour dragged him down.
3 April 1975
Herbert Halli shot while turning back at Zimmerstraße
After a drinking session on the Palast der Republik building site, 21-year-old Herbert Halli climbed into the border strip at Zimmerstraße. He had already turned back when a guard shot him in the back.
27 June 1975
Herbert Kiebler shot near Mahlow; death disguised as suicide
Shortly after midnight on 27 June 1975 Herbert Kiebler crossed the signal fence near Mahlow and was shot from about 100 metres as he left the vehicle trench. The Stasi told his family he had killed himself in a forest near Potsdam.
27 August 1976
A home-made ladder from the garden at Am Böttcherberg
A painter, his wife and their four-year-old child cut through the rear fence opposite their garden in the Klein Glienicke enclave and climbed the 3.5 m Wall with a ladder they had built themselves.
16 February 1977
Dietmar Schwietzer killed near Schönwalde
An 18-year-old from Magdeburg got through several border fences at Schönwalde but was killed by gunfire a few metres from the Wall; four guards fired 91 rounds.
May 1977
A former border officer helps Rainer P. over the Wall and is caught
Having reconnoitred the border, the pair crossed every barrier from a back yard on Kremmener Straße; Uwe W. boosted Rainer P. over the Wall and was then arrested at its foot.
22 November 1980
Marienetta Jirkowsky shot from a ladder at Hohen Neuendorf
18-year-old Marienetta Jirkowsky and two friends climbed the border barriers with a ladder; the two young men reached West Berlin, but she was shot as her hands reached the top of the Wall.
14 April 1981
Hans-Jürgen Starrost shot during capture at Sigridshorst
Facing a return to prison, 25-year-old Hans-Jürgen Starrost tried to climb into the border area at Teltow with a ladder. Caught and held, he was shot in the abdomen at close range and died a month later.
19 January 1982
A bucket, the S-Bahn tracks and the bridge over the Gartenstraße
An unknown person stood a bucket against the rear wall in a Mitte back yard, climbed onto the tracks of the North-South S-Bahn and walked across the railway bridge into Wedding.
3 March 1982
Emergency brake and ladder south of the Bösebrücke
Two men pulled the emergency brake of an S-Bahn train on the curve at Bornholmer Straße, jumped out and climbed the border barriers into Wedding with a ladder.
25 December 1983
Silvio Proksch shot on Christmas Day at Pankow cemetery
On Christmas evening 1983 the 21-year-old bricklayer climbed the cemetery fence into the border strip without any plan and was shot; he bled to death before he received treatment.
24 July 1984
Ladder escape at Brunnenstraße despite an aimed shot
An unknown man climbed the inner wall with a ladder, set off the alarm cutting the signal fence, and got over the Wall after the Schönholzer Straße tower fired a warning shot and a missed aimed shot.
1 December 1984
Michael Schmidt shot at Schulzestraße
A 20-year-old carpenter used ladders from his worksite to climb into the border strip at Schulzestraße; shot in the back and knee, he waited almost an hour for an ambulance and died in hospital.
14 July 1985
Ladder escape from Kleinmachnow
An 18-year-old used a ladder at Erlenweg in Kleinmachnow to get into the death strip and crossed every barrier under fire; a Stasi report blamed a lamp that kept going dark for 30 seconds.
17 January 1986
Telecom fitter runs through Checkpoint Charlie
A 21-year-old East Berlin telecommunications fitter, installing surveillance cameras at Checkpoint Charlie, used an unguarded moment to sprint through the control area to West Berlin.
20 January 1986
"Ladder of success" at Glienicke/Nordbahn
Shortly after midnight a man used a two-metre ladder to climb the rear wall at Glienicke/Nordbahn, set off the signal fence, ran the last 17 metres and used the same ladder to get over the final wall — the guards never saw him.
27 January 1986
Frank K. is caught at the signal fence
An applicant for an exit visa who worked near the border prepared tools and a change of trousers, got over the inner wall, and was arrested climbing the signal fence.
2 September 1986
Over the rear wall and across the Bösebrücke
A janitor and a construction helper climbed into the Bornholmer Straße checkpoint area with a ladder, got into the diplomats' lane and simply walked across the Bösebrücke — guards who saw them assumed they had been cleared.
19 November 1986
Dieter H.'s folding-ladder escape under fire
A toolmaker who had been refused permission to emigrate and jailed for two years built a small collapsible ladder, cut through the signal fence at Brunnenstraße and got over the 3.6-metre Wall while twelve shots were fired at him.
24 November 1986
Michael Bittner shot at Glienicke/Nordbahn
The 25-year-old climbed the inner wall with a wooden ladder and was shot in the back as he reached the final wall; the Stasi then erased almost every trace of his death.
2 December 1986
One gets over, one is caught: Mahlow to Lichtenrade
Two workmates from Beelitz helped each other over the barriers at Mahlow-Waldblick; the 22-year-old made it over the three-metre Wall into Lichtenrade while his 18-year-old companion was arrested.
12 February 1987
Lutz Schmidt shot helping his friend over the Wall
Truck drivers Lutz Schmidt and Peter Schulze drove to the border with ladders; Schmidt helped his colleague onto the Wall and was shot dead as he tried to follow.
19 April 1988
Building cleaner's window-ladder escape
A 31-year-old building cleaner used a window-cleaning ladder to cross every barrier from Treptow into Neukölln while two guards fired 18 shots at him without a hit.
5 February 1989
Chris Gueffroy, the last person shot dead at the Wall
Chris Gueffroy, 20, and his friend Christian Gaudian tried to climb the border fences at the Britzer Zweigkanal, believing the order to shoot had been lifted; Gueffroy was shot through the heart and Gaudian was wounded and arrested.
