On October 15, 1961, at around 9 p.m., the nextdoor neighbor Richard S., a voluntary assistant of the East German police, witnessed an escape from Ackerstraße 43 and reported it to the border guards. A man had wanted to climb down on a rope from the second story staircase window facing Bernauer Straße. But the rope broke and the man fell to the pavement. Passers-by carried him to the other side of the street. He was soon taken away by the West Berlin fire department.