Bernd Lehmann – caught in underwater barbed wire
Eighteen-year-old Bernd Lehmann entered the Spree near Treptower Park, apparently heading for the Flutgraben, but became entangled in barbed wire strung under the water and drowned.
Bernd Lehmann was born on 31 July 1949. On the evening before his escape he argued with his mother, who threatened to report that he had been missing work. The Chronik der Mauer suggests the decision to swim to West Berlin may have been a spur-of-the-moment act.
In the night of 28 May 1968 he entered the Spree and swam from the direction of Treptower Park towards the Osthafen, where, according to the Chronik der Mauer, he presumably meant to cross the border at the Flutgraben. His clothes and identity card were found in bushes near the Soviet memorial in Treptow on the early evening of 28 May.
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
Whose account is this? Told from historical research only.
Historians and memorials
- Lehmann, BerndChronik der Mauer
Facts checked against the sources: October 2026
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Cite this page
Berlin Experiences, “Bernd Lehmann – caught in underwater barbed wire”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/bernd-lehmann-spree-1968/ (accessed [date]).
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