27. People made some incredible escape attempts
Standing at 3.6 meters high in places, and always heavily guarded, crossing the Berlin Wall was no picnic. Around 5,000 people managed to, but that’s out more than 100,000 would-be escapees. Some people got lucky, others got creative. In 1979, two families got across in a hot air balloon. They got the idea from a documentary about balloons shown on GDR state television! Two groups of people got across in tunnels under it. Other remarkable successes include a tightrope walker, a floating air mattress sailed down a river, swimming, and a tank.