1971
February 1971
Tunnel 71 – The Last Tunnel under Bernauer Straße
Hasso Herschel's team lived underground for nine weeks digging a tunnel beneath Bernauer Straße, but came within ten metres of their goal before GDR border troops dug it up.
4 July 1971
An off-duty lieutenant climbs out at Stolpe-Süd
A platoon leader of the border troops, born in 1946, went home after a dance, then climbed the Wall near his own home with a wooden ladder while his former comrades fired 20 shots.
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.
December 1971
Two border guards take a patrol boat across the Spree
In December 1971 two 20-year-old GDR border guards disarmed a comrade, took the patrol boat moored at Mühlenstraße and crossed the Spree to Kreuzberg in broad daylight.
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.