Themes · Violence
Tear gas and smoke
Records in which tear gas, smoke or water cannon were used at the border.
5 events: 4 successful escapes and 1 partly successful escape. At least 8 people reached the West in these events. The records span 1961–1964. Methods: window jumps 3, tunnels 1, over the wall 1.
Often together with: Border houses (3), Fire-brigade nets and rescues (3), Escape helpers (2), Shots fired (2)
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.
13 September 1961 – 14 October 1961
'Glockengasse 4711': the sewer route under the Alte Jakobstraße
In the weeks after the Wall went up, student escape helpers led East Berliners through a sewer from Mitte to Kreuzberg. A memorial plaque puts the number at about 500; other research counts about 150.
22 September 1961
Family F. jumps under fire from the third floor
While a border policeman tried to stop her with a warning shot and West Berlin police fired tear-gas cartridges at him, a mother jumped into the fire brigade's net; her husband threw down their five-year-old son and then jumped himself.
24 September 1961
Frieda Schulze's tug-of-war at the window
As forced evictions began, a 77-year-old widow climbed onto her window ledge while East Berlin police tried to pull her back and West Berliners tried to help her down; she fell into the fire brigade's net.
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.
