Editing Inner German border (section)

===Escape methods===

{{multiple image
| align             = right
| image1            = Escape boot.jpg
| width1            = 210
| alt1              = Close-up view of a boot which has been modified with a hooked overshoe, shown on a section of border fence to demonstrate how it would have been used to climb it.
| caption1          = Boot modified with a hooked overshoe to enable the wearer to climb the fences
| image2            = Isetta marienborn.jpg
| alt2              = Tiny red and white bubble car, viewed from the rear, with a dummy in the rear representing a person being concealed in the car.
| width2            = 240
| caption2          = [[BMW Isetta]] [[bubble car]] used to smuggle several East Germans across the border in the 1960s.
}}

Refugees used a variety of methods to escape across the border. The great majority crossed on foot, though some took more unusual routes. One of the most spectacular was the escape in September 1979 of eight people from two families in a home-made hot-air balloon. Their flight involved an ascent to more than {{convert|2500|m|ft}} before landing near the West German town of [[Naila]].<ref>[[#Prescott|''The Prescott Courier'' (1979-09-17)]].</ref> Other escapees relied more on physical strength and endurance. An escapee in 1987 used meat hooks to scale the fences,<ref>[[#SundayStarNews|''Sunday Star-News'' (1987-08-28)]].</ref> while in 1971 a doctor swam {{convert|45|km|0}} across the [[Baltic Sea]] from Rostock almost to the Danish island of [[Lolland]], before he was picked up by a West German yacht.<ref>[[#UPIDoctor|United Press International (UPI) (1971-08-04)]].</ref> Another escapee used an air mattress to escape across the Baltic in 1987.<ref>[[#Gainesville|The Associated Press (1987-09-03)]].</ref> Mass escapes were rare. One of the few that succeeded took place on 2&nbsp;October 1961, when 53&nbsp;people from the border village of  [[Böseckendorf]]&nbsp;– a quarter of the village's population&nbsp;– escaped ''en masse'', followed by another 13&nbsp;inhabitants in February 1963.<ref>[[#Cramer|Cramer (2008)]], pp. 122–123.</ref> An unusual mass escape occurred in September 1964 when 14&nbsp;East Germans, including eleven children, were smuggled across the border in a refrigerated truck. They were able to escape detection by being concealed under the carcasses of slaughtered pigs being transported to the West.<ref>[[#Times1964|''The Times'' (1964-09-11)]].</ref>

The traffic was not one-way; thousands of people migrated each year from West Germany to the east, motivated by reasons such as marital problems, family estrangement and homesickness.<ref>[[#Spokesman|The Associated Press (1963-07-07)]].</ref> A number of Allied military personnel, including British, French, West German and United States troops, also defected.<ref>[[#TimesTwoSoldiers|''The Times'' (1959-07-11)]].</ref> By the end of the Cold War, as many as 300&nbsp;United States citizens were thought to have defected across the Iron Curtain for a variety of reasons<ref>[[#Walmer|Walmer (1990-02-14)]].</ref>&nbsp;– whether to escape criminal charges, for political reasons or because (as the ''St. Petersburg Times'' put it) "girl-hungry GI's [were tempted] with seductive sirens, who usually desert the love-lorn soldier once he is across the border". The fate of such defectors varied considerably. Some were sent straight to labour camps on charges of espionage. Others committed suicide, while a few were able to find wives and work on the eastern side of the border.<ref>[[#Anderson|Anderson (1964-06-14)]].</ref>