Partially successful
33 events: 33 partly successful escapes. At least 76 people reached the West in these events.
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.
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.
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.
September 1961
Eight people escape over the Flutgraben from the VEB OLW works
According to a Stasi report of 14 September 1961, eight people had fled 'in recent days' from the grounds of VEB OLW in Treptow across the Flutgraben to West Berlin, and two more were arrested trying. The works' building on the channel was itself part of the border.
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.
13 September 1961
Fire-net escapes at Harzer Straße, Treptow
Two men escaped from Harzer Straße 109 into a fire brigade net, but two hours later East Berlin police used a water cannon and tear gas to stop two women jumping from No. 117.
19 September 1961
Five escapees rope down from the roof of Bernauer Straße 43
Four men and a woman crossed the rooftops, tied a rope to a chimney and let themselves down to the western pavement; the woman fell from the third-floor level and was badly hurt, and another woman was caught in the attic.
12 October 1961
Eleven try the sewer pipe at Wolfswerder 3 – three get through
On 12 October 1961 a group of eleven people tried to escape from the property at Wolfswerder 3 in Kleinmachnow through a sewer pipe that led into West Berlin. Three reached the West; eight were arrested.
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.
21 March 1962 – 27 March 1962
Heidelberger Straße Tunnel and the Death of Heinz Jercha
Dozens of East Berliners escaped through a tunnel under Heidelberger Straße until a Stasi informer betrayed it; escape helper Heinz Jercha was shot in an ambush and died after crawling back to the West.
10 April 1962
A nine-year-old jumps from the roof of Bernauer Straße 44
On 10 April 1962 a nine-year-old schoolboy jumped from the roof of Bernauer Straße 44 into the West Berlin fire brigade's jumping sheet. Border guards stopped a second child of the same age.
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.
18 April 1962
Fatal truck breakthrough at Heinrich-Heine-Straße
Three young East Berliners crashed a truck through the Heinrich-Heine-Straße crossing; they reached the West, but the driver, 23-year-old Klaus Brueske, died of his injuries.
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.
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.
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.
6 October 1962
The Second Heidelberger Krug Tunnel to Elsenstraße
A second tunnel from the Heidelberger Krug pub brought a tailor couple to the West in their pyjamas, but an informer tipped off the Stasi within hours and an escape helper was shot and captured.
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.
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.
January 1964
Jumping onto the Moscow–Paris Express behind Friedrichstraße
In January 1964 a group of young East Berliners jumped, alone or in pairs, from a hiding place just behind Friedrichstraße station onto the westbound Moscow–Paris Express. The route was discovered when Karl-Heinz Richter stumbled, was badly hurt and was arrested.
7 January 1964
The first Bernauer Straße 97 tunnel ends in a coal yard
The first tunnel from a bakery cellar at Bernauer Straße 97 surfaced in a coal yard in view of the guards; three young women got through before it was discovered.
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.
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.
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.
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.
22 January 1973
15-month-old Holger H. suffocates during his parents' escape
A young couple hid with their baby son in crates on a West Berlin acquaintance's truck. They passed the Drewitz checkpoint undetected, but when the crates were opened in the West, 15-month-old Holger was no longer breathing.
10 April 1976
Refugees in the boot of an embassy car: the Zaire attaché and the ARAMCO network
An administrative attaché of Zaire's embassy in East Berlin used his diplomatic car to drive at least eight East Germans to West Berlin in the boot. The operation ended when his courier was arrested at the Friedrichstraße crossing.
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.
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.
3 September 1986
Sacrower See – one friend makes it, Rainer Liebeke drowns
Rainer Liebeke and his friend Dirk K. tried to swim about 500 metres across the Sacrower See; the friend reached West Berlin, but Liebeke, still recovering from a broken collarbone, drowned.
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.
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.
14 February 1989
Martin Notev is dragged back out of the Spree at the West Berlin bank
Martin Notev and two young neighbours smashed through the barriers with a truck and jumped into the Spree near the Reichstag. The neighbours escaped; Notev was pulled back by the hair from the West Berlin quay wall by a GDR patrol boat crew.
