Over the wall
Ladders, ropes and sprints across the death strip, with the constant risk of being shot.
The first wall of August 1961 was about two metres high, built of large blocks and hollow blocks topped with concrete beams.1 On 22 August a man waited in a hallway at Boyenstraße 43 for a patrol to pass, pulled himself up the new wall and jumped. A year later Peter Fechter was shot climbing the Wall at Zimmerstraße and left to bleed to death at its foot.
From the mid-1960s a new wall of concrete panels between reinforced-concrete posts was topped with a round concrete pipe meant to make climbing harder, and the "Grenzmauer 75" that went up from the mid-1970s, about 3.60 metres high, ended in the same kind of pipe. Behind it lay a strip typically about 70 metres wide, with a rear wall, a signal fence, dog runs in places and a lit patrol road.1 Guard posts stood about 320 metres apart by day in the city centre, and until the 1980s the guards were sent out each day with the order that border violators were to be arrested or destroyed.2
Ladders still got people over. A rope ladder got a man over at Ruppiner Straße in 1965, and a folding ladder crossed every barrier at Schönholzer Straße in 1968. In 1986 Dieter H. cut the signal fence at Brunnenstraße and climbed the 3.6-metre wall under twelve shots, and at Glienicke/Nordbahn one two-metre ladder served for the rear wall and then the front one. A window-cleaner's ladder did it from Treptow in 1988.
Over the wall is the one method with records on this site in every year from 1961 to 1989. In the last year the order to shoot was lifted. Chris Gueffroy was killed at the Britzer Zweigkanal on 5 February 1989; on 3 April Honecker ordered that firearms no longer be used to prevent border breaches;3 and on 5 July guards ordered a 24-year-old to halt as he scaled the Wall, and held their fire.
Sources for this text
- Aufbau und Entwicklung der Berliner MauerLandesdenkmalamt Berlin
- FAQs – 36 Fragen und AntwortenChronik der Mauer
- Das GrenzsystemChronik der Mauer
Checked October 2026. Facts taken from an escape record on this site link to that record, which lists its own sources.
207 events: 97 successful escapes, 16 partly successful escapes, 49 failed attempts and 45 fatal attempts. At least 185 people reached the West in these events.
Related methods: window jumps, ziplines and cables, aircraft and balloons
August 1961
A hairdresser cuts the wire at the Kiefholzstraße allotments for his daughter
When the border closed, a hairdresser who had fled in 1958 cut the new wire at his allotment so that his married daughter could crawl across, and then kept cutting holes for others.
13 August 1961
Through the graveyard and the church gate: 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 gate to West Berlin was still open.
13 August 1961
Wire cutters at the Ebertstraße fence on the first day
On the Sunday the border was sealed, a crowd of East Berliners at the new fence in Ebertstraße cut through the wire when the guards were not looking. Some ran across to West Berlin before the fence was closed again.
13 August 1961
Manfred Roseneit leaves his scooter at the Kiefholzstraße fence
Turned back at the Dammweg after going home for his papers, and filmed by the Abendschau behind the wire, a 22-year-old radio mechanic found a gap in the mesh fence between the Kiefholzstraße allotments the same day.
13 August 1961
Helga W. gets through during the identity check at Lohmühlenstraße
In a report logged at 5.30 a.m. on 13 August 1961 the Treptow police recorded that Helga W., born in 1939, had got into West Berlin during the identity-card check at the Lohmühlenstraße crossing; her identity card stayed with the police.
13 August 1961
A family walks out at the Heidekampweg before the fence goes up
At 10.30 a.m. on 13 August 1961 a man, a woman and a child left East Berlin over the Heidekampweg, where no barrier had yet been built.
13 August 1961
Over the sports ground in Dresdner Straße with a child and a suitcase
On 13 August 1961 a woman with a child and a suitcase left for West Berlin across the sports ground in Dresdner Straße.
14 August 1961
Peter Hohmann sprints past the guards at Brunnenstraße
A waiter who had gone back East on the night the border closed tried the Sophien cemetery the next day, then slipped past the first soldiers in Brunnenstraße and ran when the guard holding his identity card chased another refugee.
15 August 1961
Two youths flee over the fence of the Eternit works
At about 5.55 p.m. on 15 August 1961 a GDR customs commissioner on patrol found that two male youths had fled over the fence of the 'Eternitwerk'.
16 August 1961
Two men leave through the allotments at the Dammweg
At 6.10 p.m. on 16 August 1961 the guards at control point 64 on the Dammweg watched two men go to West Berlin, probably through the allotment gardens.
16 August 1961
Four men are caught on the timber yard in Wildenbruchstraße
On 16 August 1961 riot police caught four men born in 1943 and 1944, from Oberschöneweide, Kaulsdorf and Mahlsdorf, as they tried to get into West Berlin over the timber yard in Wildenbruchstraße, Treptow.
17 August 1961
Out of No. 79, over the fence and into the soap shop opposite
In a report logged at 11.30 a.m. on 17 August 1961 the Treptow police recorded that a man had run out of Heidelberger Straße 79, jumped the barrier fence and gone into a soap shop on the opposite, West Berlin side of the street.
18 August 1961
Three wires cut at the Heidekampgraben
On 18 August 1961 a youth cut three strands of barbed wire at the Heidekampgraben near the Sonnenallee crossing and escaped. A family of three who tried to follow him through the gap was arrested.
18 August 1961
Gerhard B. is injured with a bayonet at Alte Jakobstraße
On the evening of 18 August 1961 Gerhard B., born 1942, tried to break through at control point 43 in Alte Jakobstraße; he resisted when being taken in and was injured with a bayonet.
19 August 1961
Two people caught at the cemetery wall in Scharnhorststraße
On 19 August 1961 two people were stopped trying to get over the wall of the cemetery in Scharnhorststraße into West Berlin.
20 August 1961
A shot is fired at a man with a rucksack crossing the tracks near Wilhelmsruh
At 7.50 p.m. on 20 August 1961 a man with a rucksack broke through over the railway line about 300 m from Wilhelmsruh station into West Berlin; an aimed carbine shot was fired at him.
20 August 1961
A man of about 19 jumps the wall and the wire at control point 17
At 7.30 p.m. on 20 August 1961 a man aged about 19 broke through at control point 17 in Prenzlauer Berg, jumping over the wall and the wire obstacle.
20 August 1961
Three people at Adalbertstraße turn back when the guards come
At 10.25 p.m. on 20 August 1961 three people tried to overcome the border fortifications in Adalbertstraße; when the guards approached they fled back into East Berlin and got away.
21 August 1961
The person in the white coat from the Charité
On 21 August 1961 a person in a white coat came out of the last gate of the Charité and jumped over the barrier into West Berlin while the guard had been called to the telephone.
21 August 1961
A fitter climbs the Bergmann-Borsig factory wall with a ladder
On 21 August 1961 a fitter born in 1942, who was helping to put up a wire fence along the wall of VEB Bergmann-Borsig in Wilhelmsruh, left his brigade on a pretext and climbed over the wall with a ladder into West Berlin.
22 August 1961
Over the wall at Boyenstraße, then a photo
On 22 August 1961 a man waited in the hallway of Boyenstraße 43 until a patrol had passed, then pulled himself up the new wall and jumped over. From the West Berlin side, he took photographs.
22 August 1961
A brewery tractor driver leaves the border works at Chausseestraße
On 22 August 1961 the driver of a tractor from the Schultheiss brewery, used for building the border fortifications at Chausseestraße, fled to West Berlin.
22 August 1961
Three surveyors near Wilhelmsruh station are collected by West Berlin customs
According to a Stasi report of 22 August 1961, three employees of the surveying office who were doing survey work near Wilhelmsruh S-Bahn station fled to the West, where a West Berlin customs vehicle picked them up.
23 August 1961
A painter runs 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.
23 August 1961
Sent to put flower bowls on the Wall
At 11.05 on 23 August 1961 a 30-year-old worker who was supposed to set up flower bowls on the barrier wall at the Brandenburg Gate escaped to the West, hidden from view by a lorry.
23 August 1961
Two volunteer firemen from Groß Kreuz leave the border works at Kleinmachnow
Two members of the Groß Kreuz volunteer fire brigade, who had signed up to help build the border fortifications, went over to West Berlin near the Kleinmachnow/Ost control point on the morning of 23 August 1961.
23 August 1961
A man with a bicycle climbs the barrier at Glienicke/Nordbahn
On 23 August 1961 an unknown man approached the border at Glienicke/Nordbahn with a bicycle and was over the barrier before the guard could react.
23 August 1961
Over the wire with a ladder at Groß Ziethen
On 23 August 1961 an unknown man used a ladder to climb the border barrier at Groß Ziethen, south of Berlin, and got into West Berlin.
23 August 1961
A breakthrough from a garden on Am Waldrand, Klein Glienicke
On 23 August 1961 the border was broken through from the property Am Waldrand 2–3 in Klein Glienicke, a garden that directly adjoined West Berlin.
23 August 1961
A lorry driver delivering building material jumps the barrier wall
At 7.30 a.m. on 23 August 1961 a lorry driver born in 1940, who was bringing building material to a control point, left his cab and jumped over the barrier wall into West Berlin.
23 August 1961
A bricklayer painting the wall's coping stones jumps down on the other side
At 9 a.m. on 23 August 1961 a bricklayer born in 1942, who had been sent to paint the coping stones of the wall at control point 51, was standing on top of it – and jumped down into West Berlin.
23 August 1961
Over the wall from Zimmerstraße 85
At about 9.55 p.m. on 23 August 1961 a person came out of the house at Zimmerstraße 85 and got over the wall into West Berlin before the guard could stop them.
23 August 1961
Two men of about 18 climb the wall to the goods yard at Eberswalder Straße
At 12.30 a.m. on 23 August 1961 two men of about 18 climbed over the wall to the goods yard at Eberswalder Straße, heading west.
24 August 1961
Two masons sent to measure the wall climb it
On the morning of 24 August 1961 two masons who had been sent to take measurements at the wall of the Liesenstraße cemetery climbed over it into West Berlin. A third was stopped.
24 August 1961
Detlef M. and Herbert Z. try the Wall at Ruppiner Straße
Eleven days after the border was sealed, two men tried to climb the new Wall at the corner of Schönholzer and Ruppiner Straße and were arrested.
24 August 1961
Allowed to chat at the border, two people cross
On 24 August 1961 a riot-police lieutenant at the Chausseestraße control point let two GDR citizens talk to West Berliners right at the border line. They used the chance to cross.
25 August 1961
A volunteer fireman slips away through the Eiskeller
A member of the Nauen volunteer fire brigade, which was doing engineering ('pioneer') work in the area, fled to West Berlin through the Eiskeller exclave on the morning of 25 August 1961.
26 August 1961
A family of five leaves through an allotment at Klemkestraße
On 26 August 1961 a family of five got past the Klemkestraße control point in Pankow by pottering about on an allotment plot until the guards stopped paying attention to them.
26 August 1961
A Bewag worker who had spent ten days at the border crosses at Chausseestraße
At about 10.45 a.m. on 26 August 1961 a Bewag worker, who had been doing jobs right at the border for ten days, fled at Chausseestraße.
26 August 1961
Round the guards at Heidelberger Straße
At about 6.15 p.m. on 26 August 1961 a man and a woman got into West Berlin in Heidelberger Straße by going round the posts; at the same time another woman broke through the barrier there.
27 August 1961
An unknown man over the wall at Swinemünder Straße
At about 4.10 p.m. on 27 August 1961 an unknown man climbed the barrier wall at the Swinemünder Straße control point and escaped into West Berlin.
29 August 1961
Two men from Wollankstraße 14 escape over the railway embankment
On 29 August 1961 two men from the house at Wollankstraße 14 in Pankow got away to West Berlin over the railway embankment.
29 August 1961
A building worker at Melchiorstraße jumps the wall
On 29 August 1961 a man who was taking part in building work at the corner of Melchiorstraße and Adalbertstraße jumped over the wall.
29 August 1961
A mother climbs the wall at Lohmühlenstraße with her child, helped from the West
On 29 August 1961 a woman climbed over the wall at Lohmühlenstraße in Treptow with her child while people on the West Berlin side helped her.
30 August 1961
A gardener breaks through from the unguarded water-authority site on the Teltow Canal
At about 6.40 a.m. on 30 August 1961 a gardener working on a water-authority site right on the Teltow Canal in Baumschulenweg crossed into West Berlin; the site had neither guards nor barriers.
30 August 1961
A pioneer crawler driver uses his job in the Tanneberg allotments
At about 9.30 a.m. on 30 August 1961 the driver of a pioneer crawler tractor who was working in the 'Tanneberg' allotment colony in Johannisthal, on the Britzer Zweigkanal, used the job to cross into West Berlin.
30 August 1961
Out of the corner pub and over the wall at Markgrafenstraße
At about 1 p.m. on 30 August 1961 a man walked out of the pub on the corner of Zimmerstraße and Markgrafenstraße and climbed over the wall while the patrol was on the other side of the street.
31 August 1961
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.
31 August 1961
A former FU student cuts the fence at the Nibelungenweg
At about 6.50 p.m. on 31 August 1961 a man born in 1939 who had been a student at the Free University in West Berlin cut through the wire fence at the Nibelungenweg in Altglienicke; the guards noticed only when he was already in the West.
September 1961
Sent to help build the Wall, Albrecht Roos crawls under the fence from Falkensee to Spandau
Sent by the Kalinin engineering school for agricultural technology to help build the Wall, Albrecht Roos used a meal break, said he felt sick and crawled under the barbed wire through a ditch, crossing from Falkensee into Spandau in September 1961.
1 September 1961
Three teenagers from Legebruch run for the border – one gets through
Shortly after midnight on 1 September 1961 three young people from Legebruch tried to break through at Hennigsdorf; guards fired 27 shots, arrested a girl and a boy, and the third youth reached West Berlin.
1 September 1961
A farmer's family leaves horse, cart and bicycles at the cut wire
On the evening of 1 September 1961 a farmer, his wife and their two children cut through the wire in the Groß Glienicke border sector and reached West Berlin, leaving a horse and cart and three bicycles behind.
2 September 1961
Over the barbed wire and the stone wall at Markgrafenstraße
At about 4 p.m. on 2 September 1961 a man of about 20 got over the barbed-wire obstacle and the stone wall at the corner of Markgrafenstraße and Zimmerstraße while the guard was not paying attention.
3 September 1961
A woman rides her bicycle up to the fence at the Rudower Chaussee and climbs over
At about 1.30 p.m. on 3 September 1961 a woman from Adlershof cycled up to the wire fence at the Rudower Chaussee control point and was over it before the guards could step in, leaving her bicycle, handbag and identity card behind.
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.
24 September 1961
West Berlin youths cut the fence at the Dammweg for a woman and her child
On 24 September 1961 young West Berliners cut through the border fence at the Dammweg control point from the western side, allowing a woman and her child to escape.
28 September 1961
Joachim Rudolph through the Tegeler Fließ
On 28 September 1961 the student Joachim Rudolph and a friend crossed a green field from Schildow in the GDR and waded through the Tegeler Fließ, the border stream, into Lübars in West Berlin. A year later he helped dig Tunnel 29.
4 November 1961
Günter A. climbs the Wall under machine-pistol fire
While three guards stood together 40 metres from the Wall, Günter A. ran 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.
5 November 1961
Nine get through the wire between the Pankow cemetery and Schönholz
On 5 November 1961 thirty East Germans tried to get through the barbed wire between the Pankow cemetery and the Schönholz freight yard into West Berlin. A border guard's fire disrupted the attempt, and only nine, five men and four children, got across, the New York Times reported.
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; the briefcase he left behind, found the next morning, allowed the guards to reconstruct his escape and identity.
3 December 1961
Two adults and three children cut the wire near Dreilinden
On 3 December 1961 two adults and three children escaped near the Dreilinden control point on the autobahn at Drewitz after cutting through the barbed wire unnoticed by the guards; the breakthrough was discovered at about 6.50 p.m.
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; he had been lured into an ambush and lay for more than an hour in the border strip without help.
1962
A 17-year-old is caught trying to cross through the grounds of the Villa Kampffmeyer
In 1962 the 17-year-old brother of a Potsdam resident tried to reach West Berlin across the grounds of the Villa Kampffmeyer near the Berliner Straße; he was caught and held in the Stasi remand prison in the Lindenstraße.
6 January 1962
A man is caught ten metres short of the wire east of Timmendorfer Weg
At 01.45 on 6 January 1962 a man of about 30 to 35 tried to escape from the Soviet sector east of Timmendorfer Weg in Rudow. Five border guards who noticed him fired submachine-gun bursts at him, and border guards arrested him about 10 m before the barbed wire.
26 January 1962
A young woman is shot at and arrested by the fence on Nennhauser Damm
At about 08.30 on 26 January 1962 a woman of about 18 who was near the border fence on Nennhauser Damm in Staaken was arrested by a two-man border-police patrol. Before the arrest a border guard fired four or five submachine-gun shots at her; the West Berlin police thought she was probably hurt.
6 February 1962
Two men get through north-east of the Sonnenallee crossing
At 18.50 on 6 February 1962 two men escaped to West Berlin in Neukölln, about 250 m north-east of the Sonnenallee crossing. Nine submachine-gun bursts fired by the border guards missed them.
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.
March 1962
Annemarie Salzmann crawls through the wire at the Heidekrautbahn embankment
Dressed in overalls and leather gloves, a young trainee kindergarten teacher and her boyfriend crawled across a foggy field in Rosenthal and pulled each other through the barbed wire on the old Heidekrautbahn embankment.
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.
1 June 1962
Two girls try to help a friend escape at Lichterfelde-Süd
On 1 June 1962 a 16-year-old West Berlin girl was shot in the pelvis at the border in Lichterfelde-Süd while she and a 17-year-old friend were trying to help an acquaintance escape. The border guards arrested the friend.
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; West Berlin police said he had been wounded.
22 June 1962
A fugitive collapses under fire at the Forsthausallee bridge
At about 04.40 on 22 June 1962 a border guard fired a submachine-gun burst at a fleeing man at the Forsthausallee bridge. The man collapsed and about 15 minutes later was carried away in a tent sheet by the East Berlin fire brigade, apparently lifeless.
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.
19 July 1962
A West Berliner cutting the wire for his wife is fired on near Rosenthal cemetery
At about 21.35 on 19 July 1962 a West Berliner tried to cut through the barbed wire near the Städtischer Friedhof Rosenthal so that his wife, who lived in East Berlin, could escape. Border guards fired about 30 submachine-gun rounds; he got away unhurt.
25 July 1962
One of three gets through at Karpfenteichstraße
According to a man who reached West Berlin in the early hours of 25 July 1962, he and two others had been spotted and fired on by border guards near Karpfenteichstraße in Treptow; the other two, one of them wounded, were arrested.
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.
19 November 1962
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.
5 January 1963
Jürgen B. is caught past the wire at Ruppiner Straße
Jürgen B. had already climbed the first wire fence when guards arrested him at Ruppiner Straße in the night before 5 January 1963.
15 January 1963
Horst Kutscher – shot 25 metres from West Berlin
On the night before the SED party congress, coal worker Horst Kutscher and a colleague crawled towards the border in Johannisthal; about 25 metres from West Berlin shots were fired and he 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.
26 December 1963
A hijacked taxi from Zerbst and a Boxing Day dash at Schönefeld
Three men from a GDR reception home forced a taxi driver to take them from Zerbst to the edge of West Berlin; with a fourth man they tried to cross the border at about 4.50 a.m. and were stopped by gunfire.
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 woman doctor and a man with the same surname as her maiden name 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.
18 March 1965
An apprentice cuts through three fences at Schönefeld and is shot at the last one
Late at night a car-panel-beater apprentice from Berlin cut through three wire fences on the Schönefeld border. The guards heard him and fired 39 rounds just as he reached the last fence.
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 on 11 January 1966.
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
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 took him to a distant Stasi prison hospital, where he died.
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 three guards found 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 a policeman who had watched from his flat.
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.
November 1966
Michael Schwerk pulls the S-Bahn emergency brake
In November 1966 Michael Schwerk, a conscript in the Bereitschaftspolizei, stopped an S-Bahn train near the border by pulling the emergency brake and fled across the tracks, a disused railway shaft 4.80 m deep and two barbed-wire fences into West Berlin.
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.
26 December 1967
A rope over the Wall at Korsörer Straße – held by West Berlin policemen
An East Berlin woman's West German boyfriend threw a rope over the Wall in the night of 25/26 December while two West Berlin policemen held it; she was trying to pull herself up when the guards opened fire.
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.
20 October 1968
110 bottles of hydrogen and a plastic balloon – then two families climb the fence at Groß Glienicke
Two families from Premnitz ordered 110 bottles of hydrogen to fill home-made plastic balloons. When the balloons would not inflate, they crossed the fences in thick fog: five made it, and the father of one family was shot and caught at the last fence.
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 the window they could not open and fired, he was in the West.
9 April 1969
Johannes Lange shot at the last wall on Adalbertstraße
Decorative painter Johannes Lange 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, 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.
November 1969
Detlef Hubert Peuker over the Wall from a Bernauer Straße yard
In November 1969 the 16-year-old Detlef Hubert Peuker, who had scouted a building on Bernauer Straße during a visit to Berlin, got over the border installations from its yard into West Berlin.
24 November 1969
Two men shot trying to reach the American sector on one day
On 24 November 1969 East German guards shot two men in separate attempts to cross into West Berlin's American sector: a border guard trying to scale the Wall, and a youth fired on with a machine gun in the fortified strip.
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.
5 April 1970
A man stopped at the last obstacle before the Wall, 5 April 1970
On 5 April 1970 an East German motorised patrol stopped a man trying to escape over the Wall into West Berlin as he reached the last steel obstacle; the guards beat him with their rifles, West Berlin police reported.
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.
7 January 1971
Rolf-Dieter Kabelitz – shot in the snow at Bergfelde
A 19-year-old from Potsdam set off a border alarm at Bergfelde on a snowy January night in 1971, turned back when tracking dogs were set on him, and was shot while hiding behind a tree. He died of his wounds 23 days later under Stasi guard in hospital.
22 February 1971
75 shots miss – and the escaper is caught in a hallway on Provinzstraße
A 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.
4 April 1971
Two youths climb the Wall
On 4 April 1971 two East German youths climbed the Berlin Wall and fled to the West, West Berlin police reported.
15 June 1971
A councillor, his wife and two small sons climb the Wall at Klein Glienicke with a fruit ladder
On the night the SED's VIII Party Congress opened, an NDPD town councillor and trainee editor, his wife and their sons aged two and a half years and six months climbed the Klein Glienicke wall with a neighbour's fruit ladder in pouring rain.
23 July 1971
Shots stop an escape at Brunnenstraße
At about 3.20 a.m. on 23 July 1971 border guards fired on a man trying to escape at Brunnenstraße and arrested him.
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.
9 September 1971
A circus hand runs for the Wall near the Sonnenallee crossing
After an evening in the pubs of Baumschulenweg, a circus worker climbed the hinterland fence off the Heidekampweg; guards fired 43 rounds and wounded him in the hip and knees.
21 September 1971 – 22 September 1971
Three East Germans slip across unnoticed
In the night of 21 to 22 September 1971 three East Germans crossed the fortified border into West Berlin without being noticed.
26 September 1971
Man shot halfway across the Wall; bullets hit a West Berlin house
Early on 26 September 1971 guards shot and apparently wounded a man of about 30 whom they caught halfway across the Wall in the American sector; some bullets hit a house on the West Berlin side.
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.
9 June 1972 – 10 June 1972
A 15-year-old crosses the Wall into Neukölln
In the night of 9 to 10 June 1972 a 15-year-old East German boy crossed the Wall into Neukölln, apparently unseen by the guards, and was reunited with relatives in the West.
11 June 1972
An 18-year-old flees through automatic fire unhurt
On 11 June 1972 an 18-year-old East German fled through automatic-weapon fire from the border guards and reached West Berlin unhurt.
6 October 1972
Over the waterworks wall and onto the Schillingbrücke – 46 shots
A circus worker climbed the wall of the waterworks on Holzmarktstraße and the fence at the Schillingbrücke, and tried to cross the bridge. Guards fired 46 rounds; he collapsed about 30 metres past the bridge with life-threatening internal injuries.
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.
8 July 1973
Three East Germans stopped by machine-pistol fire opposite the Märkisches Viertel
Just after détente had been celebrated in Helsinki, border guards stopped three East Germans at the Wall facing the Märkisches Viertel with several machine-pistol bursts and arrested them; angry West Berlin residents tore out a fence patching a hole in the Wall and set tyres on fire.
20 July 1973 – 21 July 1973
Klaus Gomert at the Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark – shot at, arrested, then expelled to the West
In the night of 19–20 July 1973 East Berlin border guards fired bursts at a person presumably trying to escape by the Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark. On 21 July East Berlin police released 18-year-old Klaus Gomert to West Berlin, and ADN claimed he was the would-be escaper – Gomert contradicted parts of the East German account.
16 September 1973
Guards fire on two men at the Wall a day after another arrest
Early on 16 September 1973 East German guards foiled an attempt by two men to cross the Wall, firing at least four shots; the day before, guards had arrested another man trying to escape.
25 September 1973
Thirty rounds at four escapers opposite Kohlhasenbrück
On the evening of 25 September 1973 East German border guards fired about thirty rounds at four people apparently trying to cross into the American sector opposite Kohlhasenbrück. The four were led away; several bullets hit apartments on the West Berlin side.
14 December 1973
Klaus-Peter K. is caught on the patrol road
Klaus-Peter K. got over the inner wall and the signal fence at Brunnenstraße but was arrested at the patrol road.
18 January 1974
Karl-Heinz M. is caught past the inner wall
Karl-Heinz M. had climbed the inner wall and probably the signal fence before border soldiers arrested him in the strip.
13 October 1974
Felled by a single aimed shot opposite Neukölln
On a Sunday afternoon in October 1974 West Berlin police watched a young man approach the Wall opposite Neukölln. An East German guard knelt and brought him down with one aimed shot; he was carried away, apparently wounded.
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.
21 November 1975
Thirty rounds near the Waßmannsdorfer Chaussee
On the evening of 21 November 1975 two Kreuzberg residents saw an East German guard fire about 30 rounds from an automatic weapon at an unarmed man apparently trying to cross from the Schönefeld area into the American sector. He lay still for ten minutes before a military vehicle took him away.
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 April 1978
A 19-year-old reaches Staaken with a bullet wound in his hand
In the early hours of 22 April 1978 a 19-year-old East German turned up at the S-Bahn station in Staaken with a gunshot wound in his hand. He told police he had been fired on as he crossed the border.
30 November 1979
Mario E. gets away from the guards, then is caught by the police
Spotted by border troops at Wolliner Straße at 2 a.m., Mario E. got away, but the People's Police arrested him half an hour later in Eberswalder Straße.
19 December 1979 – 20 December 1979
Two young men climb the Wall
In the night of 19 to 20 December 1979 two young men climbed over the Berlin Wall from the East, West Berlin police reported.
February 1980
Two printers saw through a window and scale the Wall with grappling hooks
Two East German printers sawed through an iron-barred window in their newspaper building and climbed the Berlin Wall with grappling hooks and a rope, police said in February 1980.
25 April 1980
Martin M. reaches the watchtower at Ackerstraße
A day after quitting his job, Martin M. climbed the inner wall at Ackerstraße and got as far as the watchtower before he was arrested.
7 September 1980
Two East Germans escape over the Wall under fire, 7 September 1980
On 7 September 1980 two East Germans escaped over the Berlin Wall under fire from an East German border guard, the West Berlin police said.
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.
1 August 1981
A walkie-talkie from West Berlin: the planned break-out at Stolpe-Süd
A 22-year-old East Berlin window cleaner was to cross at Stolpe-Süd on a radio command from West Berlin, through barriers that West Berliners had already damaged – and the crossing was to be filmed. The Stasi arrested him first.
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, got out and climbed the border barriers into Wedding with a ladder.
2 September 1983
Two young men from Prenzlauer Berg cross the Wall with a window-cleaner's ladder
After an evening in a Prenzlauer Berg pub, two young men went onto the grounds of the Volkspolizei hospital, where one of them worked as a cleaner, and climbed the border barriers with his cleaning ladder while guards opened fire.
10 November 1983
Ronni S. and the painter's ladder
Ronni S. tried to get over the Wall with a painter's stepladder and was arrested in the border strip.
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.
8 April 1984
Watchtower fire at Neukölln: one of two climbers gets over
Late on Sunday 8 April 1984 East German guards fired on two men scrambling over the Wall at Neukölln; a 20-year-old reached the West, but his companion, caught with him on top of the Wall, did not.
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 run 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 an assistant bricklayer 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.
30 October 1986
Two East Germans climb the barriers at Checkpoint Charlie and are caught
On Thursday 30 October 1986 two East Germans tried to reach West Berlin by climbing over the barriers at Checkpoint Charlie. East German border guards took them away after a brief struggle.
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.
10 December 1986
A 22-year-old climbs the border fence into Kreuzberg
Late on Wednesday 10 December 1986 a 22-year-old East German climbed over the fortified border fence into West Berlin's Kreuzberg district and escaped unharmed.
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.
4 May 1987
Two men flee over the Wall into Lübars a day before their army call-up
On 4 May 1987 two East Germans aged 23 and 26, due to be inducted into the army the next day, climbed over the Wall into the rural Lübars area of West Berlin while shots were fired. Both arrived unhurt.
18 August 1987
Dogs, three shots and an arrest at the Sonnenallee crossing
Early on 18 August 1987 West Berlin police and customs officers at the Sonnenallee crossing heard dogs barking and three shots on the East Berlin side, then saw border guards lead away a man who had tried to escape. The three Western commandants protested the use of force.
26 September 1987
Two men scale the Wall into Kreuzberg
On Saturday 26 September 1987 two East German men evaded the guards, scaled the Berlin Wall and entered West Berlin's Kreuzberg district.
3 December 1987
An 18-year-old climbs into Neukölln with a ladder and swims a canal
On the night of 3 December 1987 an 18-year-old East German dodged border patrols in the Treptow area, climbed the Wall with a ladder and swam a canal into Neukölln. He telephoned West Berlin police to report his escape.
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.
16 July 1988
Over the gate and into the control area at Checkpoint Charlie
A 23-year-old lorry driver working on Berlin building sites climbed a gate and a wire fence and tried to get through the control area at Checkpoint Charlie. People on the western viewing platform watched his arrest, and Western media published photos taken from there.
5 September 1988
Two young metalworkers set off the alarm lights and still get through at Buckow
At 3.20 a.m. on 5 September 1988 two metalworkers aged 18 and 21 climbed the barriers between the Groß Ziethen allotment colony and Buckow; they triggered the alarm lights but the guards did not stop them.
25 September 1988
Two young men run through the Brandenburg Gate and stop at a warning shot
On the evening of 25 September 1988 two young East Berliners ran through the Brandenburg Gate towards the West; they stopped when a guard fired a warning shot and were led away.
28 September 1988
Two get over the Wall at Bethaniendamm under fire; their companion is caught
At about 12.30 p.m. on 28 September 1988 two East Berliners aged 20 and 21 climbed the Wall at Bethaniendamm into Kreuzberg despite shots; a 20-year-old woman who wanted to go with them was arrested.
January 1989
A farmer climbs the Wall into Lichtenrade with a ladder under fire
In an escape reported on 6 January 1989, a 34-year-old farmer from the GDR used a ladder to get over the border installations at Tutzinger Straße in Lichtenrade; by his own account he was shot at three times.
24 January 1989
Thomas Drescher and his friend caught at the Wall in Glienicke
On the night of 24 January 1989 the carpenter Thomas Drescher and his friend Dirk set a ladder against the Wall at Glienicke/Nordbahn and climbed, but a dog barked, a searchlight caught them and three armed border guards surrounded them. He was sentenced to 15 months and ransomed by West Germany in October 1989.
26 January 1989
A bricklayer scrambles over the Wall from Pankow to Wedding – seen, but not shot at
Early on 26 January 1989 a 23-year-old East German bricklayer scrambled over the Wall from Pankow into Wedding. Border guards saw him but did not open fire.
5 February 1989
Chris Gueffroy, the last escaper 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.
8 April 1989
Over the barrier at Chausseestraße in front of western cameras
Two young East Berliners jumped over the barrier at the Chausseestraße crossing; a passport controller fired a shot (a warning shot, according to the Stasi files) and both were arrested, while western journalists who had been tipped off recorded the attempt.
5 July 1989
Guards order a 24-year-old to halt but hold their fire as he scales the Wall
On Wednesday 5 July 1989 East German border guards ordered a 24-year-old man to halt as he scaled the Berlin Wall, but did not fire when he defied them; he reached the West.
7 October 1989
Gabriela M. tries to escape while East Berlin demonstrates
While thousands demonstrated in East Berlin on 7 October 1989, a young woman from Eberswalde tried to escape at Brunnenstraße and was arrested just before midnight.
