There was a museum at Checkpoint Charlie that documents a bunch of the escapes. It had some really cool exhibits. there were some tunnels dug, and some people smuggled through secret compartments in cars, and even a home-made hot air balloon. Although the balloon flight wasn't actually inside the Berlin city limits.
When I visited East Berlin as a tourist in the 1980's it was easier to enter and then return from communist East Berlin than it was for me to return to the good old USA last fall after being in Europe. Go USA! Kickin' butt! Only you can be stricter than the Berlin Wall guards.
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