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This is What Life was Like in Communist East Germany

Tim Flight December 18, 2019 25 min

Berlin Wall - Checkpoint Charlie — A man peers over the newly-built Berlin Wall in August 1961. The Guardian

27. People made some incredible escape attempts

57 people escaped the GDR through this East Berlin tunnel in 1964. New York Times

Standing at 3.6 meters high in places, and always heavily guarded, crossing the Berlin Wall was no picnic. Around 5,000 people managed to, but that’s out more than 100,000 would-be escapees. Some people got lucky, others got creative. In 1979, two families got across in a hot air balloon. They got the idea from a documentary about balloons shown on GDR state television! Two groups of people got across in tunnels under it. Other remarkable successes include a tightrope walker, a floating air mattress sailed down a river, swimming, and a tank.

Written by

Tim Flight

I am a freelance historical and literary writer based in West Yorkshire, UK. I read for a funded PhD in English at the University of Oxford (Magdalen College) and graduated in 2016. I am a former lecturer in Medieval English Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London. My publications include peer-reviewed articles in academic publications, and pieces in mainstream magazines such as History Today and Fortean Times. For more information, please see www.drflight.co.uk