Karl-Heinz S. fled through the window of his apartment at Ackerstraße 43 around 3 a.m. on September 5, 1961, along with two other people and a child. West Berlin police assisted the escape by keeping the East German border guards at bay behind the cemetery wall with drawn weapons. The border guards were blinded by the glare from mirrors. Firemen placed a ladder against the side of the building so that the fugitives could climb down from the second story to Bernauer Strasse. When East Berlin police stormed the apartment, all they found was a rope hanging from the window that had been used to drop possessions down to the west side.