Bernd Lehmann – caught in underwater barbed wire
Eighteen-year-old Bernd Lehmann set off from Treptower Park to swim to the Flutgraben but became entangled in barbed wire strung under the water and drowned.
Bernd Lehmann was born on 31 July 1949. After an argument with his mother about missing work, he decided on the spur of the moment to swim to West Berlin.
Late on 28 May 1968 he entered the Spree near Treptower Park and swam towards the Osthafen, intending to cross the border at the mouth of the Flutgraben.
He did not know that barbed-wire obstacles had been laid under the water. About 20 metres before the Flutgraben he became entangled and drowned.
A border guard found his body in the Spree at the Osthafen on 2 June 1968, dressed only in swimming trunks and a green turtleneck sweater.
Sources
- Lehmann, BerndChronik der Mauer
- Bernd Lehmann (Maueropfer)Wikipedia (de)
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