8 October 1986 · Swimming · Glienicker Brücke and Klein Glienicke
A landscape architect dives through the Jungfernsee barrier
A 29-year-old landscape architect in a diving suit slipped through a corroded gap in the underwater barrier at Nedlitz and swam to West Berlin north of the Glienicker Brücke.
The escapee, a 29-year-old landscape architect, had failed to find work in his field at the Sanssouci palaces and gardens or as a freelancer, and his application to leave the GDR, filed in September 1985, had been rejected.
After midnight on 8 October 1986 he entered the 14 °C water in a diving suit several hundred metres north of the Nedlitz water border crossing. He passed through an opening in the underwater barrier there — a Stasi investigation later found the chain net had several holes caused by corrosion.
He crossed the border on the Havel and swam on, reaching the West Berlin shore north of the Glienicker Brücke around 2 a.m. He was first taken in at the Marienfelde reception camp, while the Stasi opened an investigation and put him on its wanted list.
Sources
Whose account is this? Drawn from a press report and historical research.
Press
- E. German Swims to West (10 October 1986)Los Angeles Times
Historians and memorials
- Gelungene Flucht eines 29-Jährigen durch den Jungfernsee in Potsdam nach West-Berlin, 8. Oktober 1986Chronik der Mauer
- Flucht durch den JungfernseeChronik der Mauer
- Flucht aus der DDR: Durchs WasserDemokratiegeschichten
Facts checked against the sources: September 2026
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Cite this page
Berlin Experiences, “A landscape architect dives through the Jungfernsee barrier”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/diver-jungfernsee-1986/ (accessed [date]).
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