Themes · Means and ruses
Ropes and grappling hooks
Escapes that relied on ropes, washing lines, cables or grappling hooks.
21 events: 16 successful escapes, 1 partly successful escape, 2 failed attempts and 2 fatal attempts. At least 39 people reached the West in these events. The records span 1961–1989. Methods: window jumps 18, over the wall 3.
Often together with: Border houses (15), Wounded and injured (4), Children and families (2), Shots fired (2), Stasi reports (2), Uniforms and ruses (2)
19 August 1961
Rudolf Urban's rope descent from Bernauer Straße 1
Rudolf Urban and his wife let themselves down on a rope from their first-floor flat; he was badly injured and died in hospital four weeks later.
22 August 1961
A railway-works employee lowers himself on a rope in Onckenstraße
According to a Stasi report of 22 August 1961, a man who had worked at the Treptow railway repair works left his flat in Onckenstraße by means of a rope and went to West Berlin.
24 August 1961
Parents and 14-year-old daughter rope down from Bernauer Straße 10
Probably on 24 August 1961 a married couple and their 14-year-old daughter let themselves down on a rope from a first-floor window.
24 August 1961
Max W.'s rope breaks at Bernauer Straße 24
Max W. let himself down from his first-floor flat; the rope snapped and he fell to the pavement, where West Berlin police picked him up.
30 August 1961
Two escapes in one night from Bernauer Straße 2
At 1.30 a.m. a tenant and two friends roped down from Bernauer Straße 2; at about 4 a.m. five more people fled through a window of the same house.
6 September 1961
Down a rope from the third floor of Dresdener Straße 114
On 6 September 1961 two people let themselves down on a rope from their third-floor flat at Dresdener Straße 114 onto West Berlin ground.
12 September 1961
Down a telephone cable from Bernauer Straße 47
An unknown man broke into the Sch. family's first-floor flat and let himself down from the window on a telephone cable.
17 September 1961
Three people rope down from the corner house Brunnenstraße 138
On the evening of 17 September 1961 three people let themselves down on a rope from the corner house at Brunnenstraße 138.
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.
24 September 1961
Marianne S. flees as the eviction squads arrive
On the morning the forced evictions began, Marianne S. roped down from a window on a washing line and fell five metres; her disabled partner was left behind.
25 September 1961
Rudolf B., his wife and son rope down from Bernauer Straße 5
A family let themselves down on a rope from their second-floor flat; the guards only noticed when a crowd gathered and the fire brigade arrived.
27 September 1961
Anni M.'s rope tied round the sofa
Returning from holiday to find the border houses being cleared, Anni M. roped down the same evening with her valuables; guards found only a rope wound round the sofa.
October 1961
Peter Hertel's forged BEWAG order and a gas worker's ladder
An East Berlin electricity worker talked his way into a border house with a forged order to remove meters, let himself down on a rope from the third floor and, when the rope ran out, climbed onto a ladder a gas-company worker propped against the wall.
6 October 1961
Anita L. and Erna M. are caught in the attic with a washing line
Two women who planned to let themselves down to the West on a washing line were arrested in the attic of Swinemünder Straße 24.
15 October 1961
The rope snaps at Ackerstraße 43
A man lowering himself from a second-floor staircase window fell when his rope broke; passers-by carried him across the street.
27 October 1961
Over the roofs from Ackerstraße 41 with a washing line
Two men climbed across the roofs, let themselves down on a washing line to the roof of the corner house and waited for morning; one jumped into a fire brigade net, the other was never noticed.
29 January 1962
Fake chimney sweep abseils from Bernauer Straße 13
Dressed as a chimney sweep, a young man walked past the guards into a border house, broke through a bricked-up attic window and let himself down on his sweep's rope.
3 March 1965
Clothesline rope escape from a Treptow border house
A 26-year-old engineer tied a knotted 50-metre clothesline to a fourth-floor window, lowered himself down, swung over the Wall and dropped into Neukölln.
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.
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.
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.
