1985
On 22 January 1985, as the border was built up, the nave of the Church of Reconciliation in the death strip on Bernauer Straße was blown up; the tower followed on 28 January.1 A Council of Ministers decision of 13 March, followed by a directive from Honecker in December, considerably widened the circle of GDR citizens allowed to travel West and the occasions for travel.2 That year 20,147 people were given permission to leave for good.3 The West Berlin police registered 24 successful escapes through the Berlin barriers in the year to 13 August 1985, the lowest annual figure since the Wall was built.4
On 14 July an 18-year-old used a ladder at Erlenweg in Kleinmachnow to climb into the death strip and got across under fire.5 A Stasi report noted that a faulty lamp at the spot went dark for 30 seconds at regular intervals, which it said he had probably exploited. On 19 September a water police officer in Potsdam took his service boat out as if on patrol and motored across the Havel to West Berlin.
Sources for this text
- Chronik 1985: JanuarChronik der Mauer
- Chronik 1985: MärzChronik der Mauer
- Chronik 1988: AprilChronik der Mauer
- Gelungene Fluchten aus der DDR und Ost-Berlin durch die Grenz-Sperranlagen, 1961-1989Chronik der Mauer
- Chronik 1985: JuliChronik der Mauer
Checked October 2026. Facts taken from an escape record on this site link to that record, which lists its own sources.
2 events: 2 successful escapes. At least 2 people reached the West in these events.
14 July 1985
Ladder escape from Kleinmachnow
An 18-year-old used a ladder at Erlenweg in Kleinmachnow to get into the death strip and crossed every barrier under fire; a Stasi report blamed a lamp that kept going dark for 30 seconds.
19 September 1985
A water police officer sails his patrol boat to the West
In September 1985 a GDR water police officer slipped away from his colleagues, boarded his service boat, faked a routine patrol and motored across the water border to West Berlin.
