Escaping East Germany

In 1946 the Soviet Military administration begun to guard the lines dividing the Soviet side from the West.

Traveling between all sectors of Germany was restricted and an "Interzonenpass" (Inter-zone passport) was required to travel from one sector to another. The Interzonenpass was 30 days valid and travellers had to apply for that pass at the authorities which could refuse the application. Crossing the border between East and West Germany without permission was possible but became more and more dangerous.

On May 26, 1952 the East German government decided to close the border and to build up a frontier area between East and West Germany and between West Berlin and East Germany. After May 26, 1952 there was only one quite safe way to escape to the West: Berlin.

it was quite easy to leave the Eastern sector of Berlin to the Western sector. Many East German citizen went to Berlin, bought a S-Bahn (suburban train) or U-Bahn (subway) ticket  and left East Berlin.

On August 13, 1961 the East German government decided to close the 'last gap' in the border to West Berlin and the Berlin Wall was build up. East German citizens were not allowed to leave the country without permission.

During the first days many people could escape through the border, but day by day it became more dangerous. At the beginning people tried to climb over the Wall or the fences; they jumped out of the houses which were in the border area or dug tunnels to escape

During the first days several people were killed by the Eastern border guards. Günter Litwin was the first victim who was shot down by East German border guards in Berlin on August 24, 1961.

At first a large number of people were climbing over the wall with little trouble. The government in East Berlin then outlawed the sale of rope and twine. One of the most well known people who tried to get over was Peter Fetcher, age 18, who tried to climb over the wall on August 17, 1962. He was shot and left to bleed to death. This caused a outcry from the press throughout the world. Over 5,000 people tried to escape by climbing over the wall. About 100 died in the process; most were shot. The last person to get killed trying to climb the wall was Chris Gueffroy.

Some people even tried to fly over the wall Some people even tried to fly over the wall. The families of Wetzels and Strlzycks bought small amounts of nylon cloth. The buying of the cloth secretly and in small amounts didn't raise any suspicion. When they had enough cloth they sewed it together to form a hot air balloon. They had just enough fuel to get in the air and just floated over the wall. They reached West Berlin in a few hours. Due to this attempt the purchase of light weight cloth was strictly controlled.

In an attempt to escape and gain access to West Berlin a large network of tunnels were built. They were dug mostly by college students but many people used them. The first known successful tunnel was dug in a grave yard. People brought flowers to a grave and pretended to mourn. Then they would drop out of sight and would never be seen on that side of the wall again. This tunnel was found after a women accidentally dropped into the tunnel and left her baby in a carriage on top. The tunnel was then sealed off. The most successful tunnel was in a basement of a house at 60 Westerstrasse. There were 29 people freed from this location alone.

171 people were killed or died attempting to escape at the Berlin Wall between August 13, 1961 and November 9, 1989.