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B 337 At midday on December 6, 1961, Private K. was on duty at Strelitzer Strasse. He stood directly in front . His guard leader was monitoring Strelitzer Strasse, sixty meters away. A screen posi- tioned between them prevented the squad leader from seeing K. when he climbed over the Wall shortly past noon. Private K. had been transferred from the riot police to border duty and was Station: Station: Station: B 331: Protest rally, 1962 B 334: Report on Bernd B.’ escape attempt. critical of the Wall because it sep- The Reconciliation Church The Suffering of the People Escaping to the West arated families. His brother and sister lived in the West. B 331 B 334 B 335 The construction of the Bernd B. tried to climb over the A family fled from the first floor of B 338 M10 Documentation Center Wall evoked anger and outrage Wall near the Reconciliation the building at Bernauer Strasse Hildegard K. worked as a singer Gedenkstätte among residents on both sides of Berliner Mauer Church on the night of July 7, 1968. 10, probably on August 24, 1961. for East German radio. The reli- Commemorative the city. In the ongo- He approached the border strip A couple and their 14-year-old gious mother of four children Memorial M column for Representation of border houses Bernauer Strasse B 379 Bernauer Strasse Representation ing resentment was specifically from the Elisabeth parish ceme- daughter slid down a rope from risked losing her job because of B 366 Rudolf Urban Representation of the border wall B 372 of border houses expressed by attacks on the for- tery and got past the signal the window. her criticism of the propaganda B 333 B 363 tifications and guards. On April 10, fence and anti-vehicle obstacle. in songs. For this reason she Section B: B 331 B 365 B 358 B 343 B 338 B 384 B 352 B 371 1962, teenagers at Acker strasse Shielded by the Reconciliation B 336 decided to flee in summer 1961. B 340 B 344 B 336 B 346 B 357 B 348 B 332 B 359 B 360 B 382 B 349 B 350 B 351 B 345 threw stones at border guards, Church, he crawled within five On January 29, 1962 a young man She had already brought some The Destruction of the City B 380 B 367 B 377 injuring one. They reacted by meters of the Wall at which point fled from the attic of the building of her belongings to West Berlin. B 339 B 354 B 353 B 337 B 334 B 341 B 361 B 370 B 368 B 335 throwing smoke grenades over he was noticed by the border at Bernauer Strasse 13. Dressed On August 12 she sent three of her Orientation map B 347 B 364 the Wall to scare off the youths. guard on the watchtower at Acker- as a chimney sweeper, he was children to friends in the West. B 356 strasse. The guard called out to able to approach the border hous- When she learned of the border Bell Tower B 332 him and fired a warning shot. When es from the Elisabeth parish closure the next morning, she tried and incident markers Memorial A B At around 1:30 a.m. on August 30, Bernd B. responded by trying to cemetery without difficulty. The to find a way to flee with her eldest B 1961, Hannelore B., Margot St. jump onto the Wall, the border border soldiers thought he was son, Klaus-Peter. Hildegard K. Patrol road Archeological window and Ursula S. fled from an apart- soldier fired at him. Bernd B. was working there. From the attic knew that the Reconciliation ment at Bernauer Strasse 2. critically injured and dragged of Bernauer Strasse 13 he broke Church stood directly on the bor- Representation The border guard observed ob- behind the church – out of view of through a window that had al- der. After trying several times B 355 of a watchtower BT 9 jects being thrown down to the Cross of the old church C the West. After undergoing an ready been walled up and used unsuccessfully to get past the B 342 Patrol road pavement from a window, but emergency operation in the his chimney-sweep rope to let many obstacles on the way to the B 374 was unable to see more because Police Hospital, he was handed himself down to Bernauer Strasse church, they waited in a building the West Berlin police glared over to the secret police. The uninjured. The border guard on Strelitzer Strasse for nightfall. floodlights at him. An investiga- border soldiers involved in the posted at Bernauer Strasse 6 did They worked their way through tion found that the tenant had arrest were honored with medals not notice the escape until the backyards to the Elisabeth parish B 376 Building facade Field of rye slid down a rope with two friends. and awards. man was running across the street. cemetery. Shielded by the Field of rye Building facade Disciplinary action was taken gravestones, they crawled to the B 333 against two squad leaders. Reconciliation Church, whose Watchtower Building facade Kindly supported by At midday on August 19, 1961, gate was still open to West Berlin, Column capitals of the church Border light B 383 Station: two unknown persons slid down and were able to pass through it Ackerstrasse in Divided Berlin Relics of the inner wall a rope from the first floor of without being noticed. the corner building at Acker- Ackerstrasse Representation of the signal fence Representation of “Tunnel 57”, 1964 Gemeinschaftsaufgabe „Verbesserung der regionalen Wirtschaftsstruktur (GRW)“ strasse 43. B 339 Representation of an escape tunnel, 1964 B 336: The chimney sweeper’s escape route Gerd Sch. almost succeeded in Representation of the inner wall Representation of a “-Tunnel”, 1965 fleeing to the West on August 17, 1962, but was apprehended by border guards just before he reached the Wall at Ackerstrasse.

19.8.1961 Relics older inner wall East B 333 Strelitzer Strasse Kulturinvestitionsprogramm Flucht, zwei Personen B 362 Berlin Wall Memorial B 369 Elisabeth parish ceme tery N B 375 Bernauer Strasse 111, 13355 Berlin Sophien parish cemetery B 378 www.berliner-mauer-gedenkstaette.de B 381 [email protected] Telefon 030 467 9866-66 Telefax 030 467 9866-77 30 m B 349 B 353 B 355 Strasse. When police B 360 edge of the roof and tried to get a B 369 B 374 B 378 Escape Tunnels On October 17, 1961, Rudolf K., On December 5, 1961, a 27-year- On the morning of October 25, stormed the apartment, all they On the evening of September 25, foothold on the window below. On August 11, 1971, the border In September 1962, a border On May 5, 1980, East German Two escape tunnels were located a transport worker, was assigned old man was able to flee to the 1961, residents of the building at found was a rope hanging from 1961, Rudolf B. fled with his wife But he missed the window cross troops arrested a person on troop patrol discovered a hole in police arrested a person at Acker- in exhibition area B. Both were to assist in the apartment evic- West from the first floor of the Ackerstrasse 42, which did not the window that had been used to and son from their second-floor and fell down three floors to Ackerstrasse who was trying to the signal fence between Acker- strasse who was suspected of dug beneath the street from the tions on Bernauer Strasse 8. East building at Bernauer Strasse 2. stand directly on the border, were drop possessions down to the apartment at Bernauer Strasse 5. the pavement. The man suffered escape. strasse and the Reconciliation trying to escape. basement of a bakery on the west German policemen monitored He managed to reach the border evicted from their apartments. west side. The family slid down a rope from several broken bones and was Church. Footprints led up to the side at Bernauer Strasse 97. The the workers to prevent escapes. houses, most of which had been The curtains were left hanging on their apartment. The border retrieved by a West Berlin ambu- B 370 next fence obstacle. Evidently B 379 first tunnel took five months to Rudolf K. was able to sneak evacuated, by crossing through the windows to cover up the ex- B 358 guards did not notice the escape lance. The evacuation of the border the person had given up there Günter Tr. worked for the Murante complete, but it ended in a coal unnoticed into a room facing backyards unnoticed. He tent of the evictions. The evacu a- The border policeman Lutz M. fled until a group of spectators had houses on Bernauer Strasse because the tracks led back into company in the border area. On depot located directly behind the Bernauer Strasse. He called West knocked a few bricks out of a tion of all buildings on Bernauer to the West through a window gathered and the firemen arrived. B 364 began on the morning of Septem- the rear border area. the morning of September 6, 1961, border fortifications. The tunnel Berlin policemen over and they walled-up window, squeezed him- Strasse that were lo cated directly at Bernauer Strasse 1 on October On October 7, 1961, border guards ber 24, 1961. When the eviction he arrived at work as usual and was discovered there on January positioned a truck beneath the self through the hole and jumped on the border had been com- 23, 1961. Serving duty on Acker- B 361 apprehended Klaus Sch., a resi- troops arrived, Marianne S. spon- B 375 was checked by border guards. 8, 1964, leading the escape window. K. jumped from the first down about seven meters. The pleted three days earlier. strasse with another policeman, On the evening of August 22, 1961, dent of Swinemünder Strasse, taneously decided to flee. She Werner U. was arrested in the His work colleague Günter W. agents to give it up. Three young B 340: Ackerstrasse with barbed wire floor onto the truck which drove border guards did not notice he found an excuse to move away a young woman, pretending to be in the building at Bernauer Strasse used a clothes line to slide down border area at Ackerstrasse on smuggled his wife into the border women, however, were able to off immediately. When the East him until he was hanging in front B 356 from him. Lutz M. had already es- paying a visit, was able to finagle 10. He had reached the border a rope from a window at Bernauer November 30, 1974. He was area unnoticed. With her, Günter Tr. escape through the tunnel the B 344: Mathern family’s escape German police broke open the of the building. West Berlin police In May 1962, Dieter T., who was tab lished contact with West Berlin past the rearward border guard house through the Elisabeth par- Strasse 8, but crashed to the suspected of wanting to pass used a company work ladder to B 384: Bricked up ground level, night before. B 340 B 342 door, Rudolf K. had already made picked the man up and carried only 18 years old, and four friends policemen while he was serving and enter the building at Bernauer ish cemetery with the intention pavement five meters below. She through the border fortifications. climb over the Wall between August 23, 1961 After this tunnel failed, one On August 13, 1961, the border Border soldiers arrested Martin M. B 345 and B 346 it safely to the West. him away. tried to flee to the West from duty on Ackerstrasse days before. Strasse 7. She jumped out a of fleeing. was brought to safety by the West He denied having any intention Bernauer Strasse 11 and 13. The of the most famous tunnels, for tifications on Ackerstrasse during an escape attempt on Following a fight with a party sec- the apartment building at Acker- He broke into an evacuated apart- window on the first floor two Berlin police. Her friend, who was of escaping. colleague W. was arrested a short B 384 known as “Tunnel 57”, was dug consisted only of loosely laid-out April 25, 1980. He had climbed retary on the evening of Septem- B 350 B 354 strasse 43. Their escape failed. ment on the first floor at around hours later. She injured herself B 365 handicapped, remained behind time later by the police on orders To prevent further escape at- from the same bakery to Strelitzer rolls of barbed wire. A VW beetle over the inner wall on Ackerstrasse ber 22, 1961, Horst K., who lived at Monika Schaar, who originally On the night of October 26, 1961, Dieter T. had managed to flee 9 p.m. and jumped to the pave- badly and remained lying on the On the morning of September 23, in the apartment and was trans- B 376 from the secret police. tempts from the border houses, Strasse 55. On October 3 and 4, from East Berlin sped along Acker- and reached the watchtower. Bernauer Strasse 10a, visited an came from East Berlin, got married two men crept onto the roof of the to the West just after the Wall was ment below. The police were wait- pavement until the West Berlin 1961, border guards on Acker- ferred to Brunnenstrasse the After the Wall was built, a few the windows facing West Berlin 1964, 57 people were able to strasse and rammed through this He had quit his job the day before. acquaintance who lived in an apart- on September 8, 1961. Because of building at Ackerstrasse 41. They built in 1961, but had returned ing for him there and brought police arrived. strasse observed a person same day. people tried to escape to the West B 380 were gradually bricked up. On escape through it. The tunnel was barrier at high speed. The car ment at Bernauer Strasse 13a. the border closure, the bride’s climbed over to the house next to East . In July 1962 the him to safety in a patrol car. His jumping from a border house through the sewage system. On Private Klaus Sch. was assigned August 22, 1961, the apartments betrayed on the second night and became entangled in the barbed B 343 At approximately 1 a.m. the next parents, who lived at Bernauer door and using a clothes line, slid group planned a third escape decision to flee had evolved over B 362 into the rescue net of the West B 371 October 4, 1961, border police duty at Ackerstrasse on the morn- on the elevated ground floor of shots were fired between border wire, coming to a halt on West At around 4 a.m. on August 30, day, Horst K. called the West Strasse 9, were not able to attend down to the roof of Ackerstrasse near the Charité Hospital, but it a long time. Two comrades with Border guards apprehended the Berlin fire department. Just after midnight on Septem - arrested three men on Acker- ing of January 16, 1962. When his Bernauer Strasse 7 were the first soldiers and a tunnel builder. Berlin territory. The driver climbed 1961, five people escaped Berlin fire department and jumped the wedding ceremony in West 43 that was ten meters lower. was discovered in the planning whom he was friendly had de- apprentice Michael B. from Freital ber 20, 1961, border guards strasse who were trying to flee squad leader left to pass a search to have their windows walled up. Sergeant was fatal- out of the car to safety. Firemen through the window of the build- into their rescue net. Berlin. When Monika Schaar and They waited there until morning. stage. serted before him. Lutz M. found on June 9, 1981 during an escape B 366 watched as five fire trucks drove through the sewage tunnel to dispatch on to the next guard, First the windows of deserted ly hit by a bullet fired from the gun extricated the car from the barbed ing at Bernauer Strasse 2. Mrs. K. and her five-month- her husband visited her parents, West Berlin firemen spread a border duty and the pressure to attempt on Ackerstrasse. On October 15, 1961, at around 9 up to Bernauer Strasse 10 and West Berlin. The manhole was Klaus Sch. switched off the apartments were sealed. After the of a border soldier. The SED pre- wire. old child also succeeded in flee- they presented the newlyweds rescue net out in front of the build- B 357 fire at people fleeing unbearable. p.m., the next-door neighbor posi tioned themselves with open and two of the men had border lights and used a stool border houses were evacuated, sented this incident as a planned B 344 ing on September 30, 1961. Mrs. with flowers. ing at about 9 a.m. Members of Karl-Heinz S. fled through the B 363 Richard S., a voluntary assistant rescue nets. Two people jumped already climbed in. to climb over the Wall. all the windows and doors facing murder and concealed what B 341 A few days after the border was K. had been evicted from their a construction squad that was window of his apartment at Acker- B 359 At midday on September 19, 1961, of the East German police, wit- out the window to the West a little the West were systematically actually happened from relatives Heinz V. had just about completed closed, the first building apartment, but her old address B 351 erecting border obstacles on the strasse 43 around 3 a.m. on A newspaper from the West re- residents of the building at Acker- nessed an escape from Acker- later. B 377 B 381 bricked up. and the public. Schultz was made his doctorate degree at the entrances were blocked off on was still documented in her iden- Mrs. K., her daughter-in-law and grounds of the Sophien parish September 5, 1961, along with ported that in 1984 two teenagers strasse 42 informed the border strasse 43 and reported it to the Irma B. fled to the West from her Between December 1964 to No- into a hero and a border regiment, Humboldt University in Berlin by Bernauer Strasse to prevent tity card and the border guards let her grandson fled to the West cemetery reported this to the two other people and a child. West were able to escape to the West guards that they had heard suspi- border guards. A man had wanted B 372 apartment at Ackerstrasse 43 vember 1965, 19 people at Acker- streets and schools were named summer 1961. He had joined the further escapes. Alarmed by this, her enter the border area. She from Mrs. K.’s apartment on Sep- border guards. But they did not Berlin police assisted the escape near the Reconciliation Church. cious-sounding noises coming to climb down on a rope from the Heinz K. worked as a truck driver at about 2 a.m. on September 23, strasse alone were arrested after him. SED during his studies, but came the Mathern family fled from the went to the same acquaintances tember 19, 1961 at around 11: 30 notice the escapee R. until he by keeping the East German from the attic. The border guards second-story staircase window for the Murante company at Stre- 1961. Irma B. had barricaded in connection with the border In 1965 the underground into conflict with the official party ground floor of Bernauer Strasse that her husband had visited and p. m. They jumped from the sec- jumped from the roof of the build- border guards at bay behind the discovered a young man on the facing Bernauer Strasse. But the litzer Strasse 53. After the Wall her apartment door shut and noti- regime. escape routes led the secret line. After the Wall was built, he 11 on August 17. jumped out their window to the ond floor of Bernauer Strasse 10 ing to the West. The other man cemetery wall with drawn weap- roof of the building next door that rope broke and the man fell to the was built, the company was situ- fied the West Berlin fire depart- police to take counter measures. decided to flee. He belonged to the West with her child. into the rescue net of the West went completely unnoticed. ons. The border guards were stood right on the border. Ordered pavement. Passers-by carried ated within the border area and ment. The firemen leaned a ladder B 382 It dug its own tunnels diagonal to worker’s militia of the Academy Berlin fire department. blinded by the glare from mirrors. B 332 and B 357: to halt, he swung himself over the him to the other side of the street. Heinz K. had a permit to enter it. against the building so that Irma When Anni M. returned from vaca- suspected escape tunnels and of Sciences. On September 24, B 347 Firemen placed a ladder against Border guard on Ackerstrasse He was soon taken away by the On September 22, 1961, he parked B. could climb from the first floor tion on September 27, 1961, the 22.8.1961 installed listening devices in them 1961, he was assigned to assist Wilfried K. was arrested by border B 352 the side of the building so that the West Berlin fire department. his truck between site huts so that down to the pavement. evacuation of the border houses and in “tunnel-endangered areas” in the evacuation of the border guards right in front of the Wall On September 22, 1961, the F. fugitives could climb down from the border guards could not see had already begun. She decided B 384 in the border strip to prevent houses. When the border guard at Ackerstrasse at around 1:15 a.m. family fled from their third-floor the second floor to Bernauer B 367 him. He fled unnoticed over a back to flee that very day. Late in the Vermauern further tunnels from being built. briefly left the balcony door, on September 25, 1961. When apartment at Bernauer Strasse 7 On September 19, 1961, a person fence and the five-meter-high evening a neighbor heard suspi- Grenzhäuser Heinz V. seized the moment and he was interrogated by the East into the rescue net of the West fled across the rooftop of the wall covered with broken glass cious-sounding noises and beginnt jumped from the first floor of German police, he admitted his Berlin fire department. Their building at Ackerstrasse 42. that stood between the buildings notified the border guards. When Bernauer Strasse 6. He injured escape attempt. neigh bors notified the border B 354: Escape across rooftops at Bernauer Strasse 11 and 13. they broke open the apartment himself badly and spent many police. When Mrs. F. was standing B 368 door, they found a rope hanging Credits: B 331 weeks in the hospital. B 348 on the window sill, a border guard After the Knittel family decided to B 372 and B 379: from the window that was Alex Waidmann On August 26, 1961, a woman from the building next door or- flee from Bernauer Strasse 8 on Escape over the Wall wrapped around the sofa. At B 332, B 357 An exhibition of the jumped to the West from the first dered her to climb back into the September 19, 1961, they notified around 9 p.m., Anni M. had taken Günter Malchow, Berlin Wall Foundation Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer Exhibition curator floor of a building at Bernauer apartment immediately. West 19.9.1961 the West Berlin fire brigades. her valuables and escaped down B 334 Strasse 2. The West Berlin police Berlin police fired tear gas at the Firemen arrived with a rescue net the rope to the pavement on the Der Abend, 8. 7. 1968 Dr. Gerhard Sälter brought the injured woman to border guard who had fired a B 368 around 10 p. m. Helga Knittel, who west side. B 336 Project coordinator Bundesarchiv Militärarchiv Dr. Günter Schlusche 24.9.1961 safety. warning shot from his machine was heavily pregnant, was the Flucht, B 340 Landscape architecture pistol to stop the woman from Familie K. first to jump out the second-story B 383 Beck, Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer B 341 B 341 sinai, Berlin escaping. Mrs. F. jumped into the window. She was followed by her On October 19, 1979, border Exhibition design Flucht Heinz V. rescue net. As border guards daughter Marina and then the guards arrested a person in the Photographer not known, 27.9.1961 Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer Christian Fuchs, were forcing their way into the father. The escape had been well- border area at Ackerstrasse. B 344 ON architektur, Berlin apartment, her husband dropped prepared, allowing them to take B 382 Horst Siegmann, Landesarchiv Berlin Graphics B 354 their five-year-old son down some of their personal belong- Flucht, Anni M. Photographer not known Weidner Händle, Stuttgart before jumping himself. ings with them. Three days after B 372, B 379 Translation the escape, Helga Knittel gave Jutta Schusky Miriamne Fields B 384 birth to her second daughter in Horst Siegmann, West Berlin. Landesarchiv Berlin B 341: Escape site of Heinz V.