Berlin Wall Sites Near Bethke Brothers Escape
Site of two of the most daring Berlin Wall escapes. On 31 March 1983, Holger Bethke climbed to a rooftop near Treptow Park, fired an arrow trailing a nylon line over the Wall, pulled a steel cable across, and zipped over the death strip on a homemade wooden pulley. Six years later, on 26 May 1989, his brothers Ingo and Holger flew two ultralight aircraft into East Berlin, landing at 4:15 AM in Treptower Park to extract their youngest brother Egbert. They flew back over the Wall, landing in front of the Reichstag. Their eldest brother Ingo had earlier escaped in 1975 by swimming across the Elbe on an air mattress.
15 Berlin Wall Sites Within Walking Distance
Bethke Brothers Escape
Site of two of the most daring Berlin Wall escapes. On 31 March 1983, Holger Bethke climbed to a rooftop near Treptow Park, fired an...
Führungsstelle Schlesischer Busch
In Schlesischer Busch park, a former four-storey command tower still stands. It is one of only a handful of surviving Berlin Wall watchtowers. Unlike standard...
Heidelberger Straße Tunnels
Known as the "Straße der Tränen" (Street of Tears), Heidelberger Straße was split down the middle by the Berlin Wall, with the western pavement in...
Kiefholzstraße Tunnel
In the early 1960s, several escape tunnels were dug along the Neukölln-Treptow border near Kiefholzstraße, where favourable soil conditions and the border configuration aided tunnel...
Oberbaumbrücke
Crossing the River Spree, this beautiful double-decker bridge is well-known Berlin landmark. It became a pedestrian border-crossing for West Berliners. The entire width of the...
East Side Gallery
The longest surviving stretch of the Berlin Wall, this 1.3km open-air gallery along the Spree was painted by 118 artists from 21 countries in 1990....
Sebastianstraße Tunnel
In 1962, Siegfried Noffke and Dieter Hötger dug a tunnel approximately 30 metres long from this building in West Kreuzberg under the Wall to Heinrich-Heine-Straße...
Heinrich-Heine-Straße
A former border crossing between the Russian and US sectors. There isn't much to see here today. The route of the Berlin Wall is marked...
Stasi Museum
Located in the former headquarters of the Ministry for State Security in Lichtenberg, this museum preserves the office of Stasi chief Erich Mielke exactly as...
U-Bahnhof Jannowitzbrücke
The first ghost station to reopen, on 11 November 1989, just two days after the Wall fell. A provisional border checkpoint was hastily set up...
Chris Gueffroy Gedenkzeichen
A simple cross and information panel mark the spot at the Britzer Zweigkanal where 20-year-old Chris Gueffroy was shot on 5 February 1989. He was...
Sonnenallee
This was one of the quieter border crossings. It became better known after the 1999 comedy movie with the same name. Today it is marked...
Flughafen Tempelhof
The airport where the Berlin Airlift (1948-1949) broke the Soviet blockade of West Berlin, with Allied planes landing every 90 seconds to supply the city....
U-Bahnhof Alexanderplatz (U8)
East Berlin's busiest transport hub was simultaneously a ghost station. The U2 and U5 platforms served East Berliners normally, while the physically separate U8 platform...
Zimmerstraße Escape Tunnels
Two escape tunnels were dug on Zimmerstraße, close to Checkpoint Charlie. In summer 1962, a tunnel from an empty lot in the West to Zimmerstraße...
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