Themes
Threads that run across methods, places and years: who helped, who betrayed, what people carried, what went wrong and where each story comes from. 58 themes in all; a story can belong to several.
People
Escape helpers
Escapes organised or aided by helpers: tunnel diggers, couriers, drivers and student groups.
80 stories, 1961–1989
Paid escape help
Escapes arranged by commercial escape organisations that charged for their help.
6 stories, 1974–1976
Children and families
Escapes by parents with children, babies, siblings and whole families.
68 stories, 1961–1989
Teenagers and young people
Escapes and attempts by teenagers, apprentices, students and other young people.
32 stories, 1961–1987
Couples and sweethearts
Escapes by couples, and by people trying to reach a partner, fiancé or fiancée on the other side.
21 stories, 1961–1989
Older people
Escapes and attempts by older people, including the oldest people recorded here.
5 stories, 1961–1965
Workers at the Wall
People who got close to the border through their work: builders of the Wall itself, factory hands, drivers, railwaymen and surveyors.
44 stories, 1961–1986
Conscripts and call-ups
Records involving conscript soldiers, and people who fled before being called up for military service.
11 stories, 1961–1987
Foreign citizens
Records in which citizens of other countries, as escapees, drivers or helpers, play a part.
13 stories, 1962–1989
Exit applications
People who had applied to leave the GDR legally before they tried to escape.
7 stories, 1976–1987
Unnamed escapees
Records of people whose names are not known from the sources.
3 stories, 1964–1982
Along the border
Border houses
Escapes from homes on the border line: windows, rooftops, cellars and the evacuations that emptied the houses.
61 stories, 1961–1986
Cemeteries
Escapes and attempts through the cemeteries that lay on the border strip.
21 stories, 1961–1983
Allotments and gardens
Escapes through allotments, gardens and parks along the border.
14 stories, 1961–1988
Exclaves and enclaves
Escapes involving West Berlin's exclaves, such as Steinstücken and Eiskeller, and the gates to them.
8 stories, 1961–1980
Transit routes
Escapes on the transit roads between West Berlin and West Germany, and at their checkpoints.
14 stories, 1961–1989
U-Bahn and ghost stations
Escapes and plans involving the underground lines and closed stations beneath the border.
5 stories, 1962–1980
Barbed wire and fences
Escapes through or over barbed wire and border fences, often by cutting them.
27 stories, 1961–1971
Alarms, dogs and searchlights
Records in which signal fences, alarms, dogs, searchlights, watchtowers or other barriers detected or stopped people.
16 stories, 1961–1988
Patrol boats
Records involving the boats that patrolled the border waters, on both sides.
12 stories, 1961–1989
Guards who held fire
Records in which guards saw an escape and did not shoot, or let people through.
6 stories, 1961–1989
Border guards killed
Records in which a GDR border guard died.
7 stories, 1962–1980
Soviet forces
Records involving Soviet soldiers or Soviet custody.
3 stories, 1963–1981
West Berlin police
Records in which West Berlin police took part, from catching jumpers to returning fire.
15 stories, 1961–1972
Allied soldiers and officials
Records involving American, British or French soldiers, vehicles, officials or courts.
15 stories, 1961–1982
Allied protests
Shootings and incidents that drew formal protests from the Western Allies, including bullets landing in West Berlin.
9 stories, 1969–1989
Means and ruses
Ladders
Escapes and attempts using ladders, from fire-brigade ladders to homemade ones.
37 stories, 1961–1989
Ropes and grappling hooks
Escapes that relied on ropes, washing lines, cables or grappling hooks.
21 stories, 1961–1989
Fire-brigade nets and rescues
Escapes in which the West Berlin fire brigade caught jumpers in nets or helped people across.
17 stories, 1961–1962
Sewers
Escapes and attempts through the sewers and drains under the border.
7 stories, 1961
Homemade equipment
Escapes that relied on homemade gear: diving sets, hang-gliders, body armour, air mattresses.
15 stories, 1961–1989
Armoured and heavy vehicles
Escapes and attempts with armoured cars, tanks, bulldozers, cranes and tractors.
9 stories, 1961–1966
Borrowed and forged passports
Escapes on borrowed, forged or look-alike passports and identity cards.
13 stories, 1961–1987
Diplomats' cars and passports
Escapes using diplomatic cars, diplomatic passports or the immunity of foreign officials.
7 stories, 1962–1981
Uniforms and ruses
Escapes that relied on disguise, borrowed uniforms, bribes or a plausible excuse.
33 stories, 1961–1987
Group escapes
Escapes in which a group of people, friends, colleagues or strangers, tried to cross together.
19 stories, 1961–1986
Hijackings
Escapes by hijacking an aircraft, ship, train or taxi.
6 stories, 1962–1983
Armed escapes
Escapes in which escapees carried weapons, took weapons from guards or took hostages.
19 stories, 1961–1988
Plans abandoned or discovered
Escape plans, many of them tunnels, that were abandoned, collapsed or were discovered.
6 stories, 1961–1982
When
The first days
Escapes on the first day of the border closure, 13 August 1961, and in the days right after.
11 stories, 1961
Night, fog and ice
Escapes made under cover of darkness or fog, or across ice and snow.
26 stories, 1961–1989
Holidays
Escapes on Christmas, New Year's Eve, May Day and other holidays.
9 stories, 1961–1986
Violence
Shots fired
Escapes and attempts during which shots were fired.
157 stories, 1961–1989
Wounded and injured
Records in which people were wounded by gunfire or injured during the attempt.
51 stories, 1961–1989
Medical help denied or delayed
Records in which wounded people lay without help, or help came too late.
5 stories, 1961–1984
Drowned
Records of people who drowned trying to cross the border waters.
17 stories, 1961–1986
Tear gas and smoke
Records in which tear gas, smoke or water cannon were used at the border.
5 stories, 1961–1964
Surveillance and aftermath
Stasi and secret services
Records in which the Stasi or other intelligence services watched, chased or recruited the people involved.
21 stories, 1961–1989
Betrayed by informers
Escapes and tunnels betrayed to the authorities, and records naming the informers involved.
20 stories, 1961–1984
Cover-ups
Records in which the GDR authorities concealed what had happened from families or the public.
20 stories, 1961–1989
Prison, ransom and expulsion
Escapees and helpers who were imprisoned in the GDR, bought free by West Germany or expelled to the West.
20 stories, 1961–1989
Trials after reunification
Shootings at the border that came to court after 1990, and other later trials and convictions.
29 stories, 1961–1989
Memorials and remembrance
Records linked to a memorial, museum or later research, and records marked as the first or last death at the Wall.
9 stories, 1961–1989
Where the record comes from
Stasi reports
Records drawn wholly or partly from Stasi files, reports and photographs.
79 stories, 1961–1984
East Berlin police reports
Records drawn from the daily reports of the East Berlin police (Volkspolizei).
53 stories, 1961
US Mission telegrams
Records drawn from telegrams of the US Mission in Berlin and other US government papers.
16 stories, 1973–1987
Witness accounts
Records that draw on the testimony of eyewitnesses or of the escapees themselves, in interviews and memoirs.
23 stories, 1961–1989
Filmed, photographed and watched
Escapes caught on film or camera, reported live, or watched by crowds.
17 stories, 1961–1989