Berlin Wall Escapes1961–1989

3 April 1962 · Guards who fled

A border guard is shot down 15 metres from the line at Dreilinden

On 3 April 1962 a GDR border guard tried to reach West Berlin at the Dreilinden control point. A comrade set his dog on him and shot him. Badly wounded, he lay 15 metres from the border until he was taken away.

A long rust-coloured girder bridge over a calm canal with autumn trees on both banks.
The disused autobahn bridge over the Teltow Canal at Dreilinden in 2009; until 1969 the transit route and its control points ran across here Photo: Biberbaer. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

On 3 April 1962 a GDR border guard tried to reach West Berlin territory at the Dreilinden control point. A second border guard set his service dog on him and fired two shots from his submachine gun.

The fleeing guard was hit and lay badly wounded about 15 metres from the border. A squad of 15 border guards then took him away in a lorry towards Babelsberg.

The report gives neither his name nor what became of him.

Sources

  1. Report of the West Berlin Schutzpolizei for April 1962Chronik der Mauer (document: Polizeihistorische Sammlung des Polizeipräsidenten in Berlin)

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