September 16: On This Day in World History … briefly
The escape has been portrayed in two films: Night Crossing (1982) and Der Ballon (2018). The former, also called With the Wind to the West - the English translation of the German title, was an English-language film produced by Disney.
1979: Eight people escape East Germany to the west in homemade hot air balloon
The East German balloon escape was an incident occurring at approximately 2am on September 16, 1979, in which two families, with eight members in total, escaped the communist country of East Germany by crossing the border to West Germany in a homemade hot air balloon. The plot to accomplish this was carried out over a period of one and a half years, including an unsuccessful attempt, three different balloons, and various modifications until the successful escape occurred. One failed crossing alerted the government to the plot, but the police were not able to identify the suspects before their flight to freedom.
East Germany immediately increased border security, closed all small airports close to the border and ordered the planes kept farther inland. Propane gas tanks became registered products and large quantities of fabric suitable for balloon construction could no longer be purchased. Mail from East Germany to the families was prohibited.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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