From flying in a hot air balloon to moving on a tightrope, here’s how these 8 people
escaped the Berlin Wall.
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From 1961 to 1989, the Berlin Wall was both a physical and ideological barrier between
East and West Germany.
After World War II, Germanys capital city was divided into occupation zones by the Allied
forces.
The US, the UK, France and the Soviet Union each took their share of the land.
As tensions rose between the Soviet Union, which controlled East Germany, and the allies
in the West, the Berlin Wall was built.
Families and friends found themselves separated and free movement across the border became
a virtual death sentence.
Number 8 Flying a Hot Air Balloon After watching a documentary on hot air ballooning,
aircraft engineer Hans Peter Strelczyk was inspired.
Alongside friend, Gunter Wetzel, he built an engine from propane cylinders.
The balloon itself was made from bedsheets stitched together by their wives.
Their first attempt failed, but Wetzel and Strelczyk were determined to get their families
to West Berlin.
On September 16, 1979, they took off, soared over the Wall and landed on West German soil.
The hot air balloon flight that changed the lives of the two men and their families lasted
roughly half an hour.
Before we move on, answer this question.
What does “Mein Kampf”, the title of Hitler’s most famous book, mean?
a.
My Camp b.
I, the Champ c.
Mining Camp d.
My Struggle Let us know what you think in the comments
below and stay tuned to find out the right answer.
Number 7 Crashing a Tank Wolfgang Engels was an East German soldier
who’d helped build the Wall in 1961 but who soon realized that life in the West was
more alluring.
In April, 1963, Engels stole a tank and drove towards the wall as he cried out “I’m
getting out of here to the West, anyone want to come along?”
Unfortunately the tank wasn’t powerful enough to break through the concrete barrier.
That’s when Engels got out and tried to climb the wall but got stuck in the barbed
wire.
He was shot twice by patrolling guards before West Germans, who’d been drinking in a bar
nearby, helped him down.
Engels said that he knew he’d made it because, as he awoke on the bar counter, he saw all
the Western brands of liquor.
Why Was It Built?
West Berlin was a capitalist presence deep within communist East Germany, something which
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev said “stuck like a bone in the Soviet throat.”
They began maneuvering to take full-control of the city.
In 1948, they tried to starve out West Berlin by blocking the influx of supplies from the
Allies.
To counter this move the Allies began dropping supplies by air, which became known as the
Berlin Airlift.
The following year the Soviets cancelled the blockade and a decade of relative peace followed.
During this time, over 3 million refugees fled from the eastern German Democratic Republic
to the western Federal Republic of Germany.
This was cause for Soviet embarrassment and the main reason why the Wall was built.
The Soviet government claimed it to be a way of keeping capitalist influence out but it
was rather a way of keeping East Germans in, mostly against their will.
Crossing the border could only be done through checkpoints alongside the wall.
Number 6 Paddling on an Air Mattress In 1975, Ingo Bethke decided to flee East
Berlin by using an air mattress.
He used to work as an East German border guard and knew the terrain on the banks of the River
Elbe.
He also knew how to safely cross the mine field, navigate through the metal fencing
and avoid the trip wires.
Bethke and a friend made their way to the river and used an air mattress as a raft.
They followed the course of the Elbe and quietly paddled to West Germany.
Number 5 Using a Zip Line After Ingo Bethke defected to West Germany,
his family was tightly monitored by East German authorities.
However, that didn’t stop his younger brother Holger planning a daring escape.
A trained archer, Holger found a tall building overlooking the other side of the wall.
In 1983, he snuck into the attic and used a bow and arrow to fire a cable to West Berlin.
Ingo, who’d gotten word from his brother, was waiting on the other side and attached
the cable to his car.
Holger then rode the zip line using a metal pulley and was reunited with his brother on
the other side.
How Did It Kill You?
The Berlin Wall was a 12-foot-tall, 4-foot-wide structure made of reinforced concrete with
a giant pipe at the top that made climbing it next to impossible.
The wall zig-zagged across the country for 96 miles, separating East and West Germany,
with about 27 miles running across the capital city.
The East German side featured a “Death Strip”, a gauntlet of vicious dogs, trip-wire, machine
guns, floodlights and guards ordered to shoot on sight.
The wall stood for nearly three decades, and over 171 people were killed trying to cross
it.
Number 4 Driving a Stolen Train Four months after the wall was built, 27-year-old
railway engineer Harry Deterling found a disused train track that still stretched from East
to West Berlin.
His escape plan would subsequently become known as “the last train to freedom”.
Deterling signed on as a conductor on the route nearest to the disused track.
In early December, 1961, Deterling’s friends and family climbed aboard the train.
After disabling the emergency brakes, Deterling drove the train at full speed towards West
Berlin and, implicitly, to freedom.
The train drove through the wall at 50 mph, taking border guards completely by surprise.
As soon as the train skidded to a halt in a West Berlin suburb, one of the fugitives
called the police to explain what they were doing with a stolen East German train.
How Did It End?
1989, a series of revolutions in Eastern Bloc countries unleashed a chain reaction in East
Germany that ultimately brought down the wall.
As people began crossing the border through Hungary to Austria mass demonstrations followed
in East Germany.
Tensions grew and, in the wake of political instability, waves of refugees found their
way to West Germany.
On November 9, 1989, the East German government announced its citizens could visit the West.
In a celebratory atmosphere, thousands of Germans crossed or climbed over the Wall to
embrace those on the other side.
The Berlin Wall, in its ideological form, had fallen and Germany was whole again.
The physical demolition of the Wall was completed from 1990 to 1992.
Number 3 Driving a Convertible While working in East Berlin, Heinz Meixner
fell in love with Margarete Thurau.
Meixner was Austrian but East German authorities wouldn’t allow him to marry Thurau in his
native country.
Meixner then rented a convertible and modified it by removing its windshield and deflating
its tires.
In 1963, with Thurau and his future mother-in-law in the trunk, Meixner approached a border
checkpoint.
He then ducked and stepped on the gas, driving under the barrier and into West Berlin.
Number 2 Swimming When he was only 18 years old, in 1966, Hartmut
Richter swam across the Teltow Canal to reach West Berlin.
It took him four hours in which he had to duck underwater many times to avoid being
detected by patrols or guard dogs.
Exhausted and close to hypothermic shock, he reached the West German shore and passed
out.
Richter would later return to the East, several years later, and start to smuggle people to
the other side in the trunk of his car.
He helped over 30 people get out until he was arrested.
He was later released with West German help.
So, what does “Mein Kampf” mean?
The right answer was d, “My Struggle”.
His 720-page manifesto describes his political ideology and plans for the future of the country
as well as the process by which he became antisemitic.
It became a best-seller in Germany in 1933, after Hitler’s rise to power, and a notable
tool for gathering further support to his cause.
Number 1 Moving on a Tightrope Horst Klein was a trapeze artist with anti-communist
beliefs, unable to perform on the Soviet side of the Wall.
Driven by his passion and love of the circus he plotted an escape by doing what he was
best at…climbing the tightrope.
In the winter of 1962, he climbed an electricity pole adjacent to the wall and started moving
hand-over-hand across a disused power cable.
As he dangled from the wire, 60 feet below were the Death Strip and patrolling guards.
When his arms got tired, he pulled his body on the cable and inched his way across.
As the cold took hold of him, he fell from the top and fractured both his arms.
The shock and pain he’d felt hadn’t been in vain, as he did land on the western side
of the wall.
Thanks for watching!
Suppose you were trapped in East Germany but with access to the technology we use today,
how would you approach escaping the Berlin Wall?
Let us know in the comments section below!