Georg Feldhahn – a border policeman's escape at the Massante Bridge

Georg Feldhahn, born in 1941 in Friesack in the Havelland, grew up in a children's home and with foster parents, trained as a tractor driver and joined the German Border Police at 18. After the Wall was built he was transferred in October 1961 to the 1st Border Brigade on the inner-city border between Treptow and Neukölln.

On 19 December 1961 his duty as a patrol guard near the Massantebrücke on the Teltow Canal began at 9 p.m.; earlier that day he had reportedly been drinking in town with two comrades. At about 10 p.m., sent to check a signal device on the fence, he did not return but moved slowly towards the bridge leading to West Berlin. Realising he was being followed, he fired several shots from his submachine gun without hitting anyone, and then disappeared.

From traces at the scene, East Berlin investigators concluded that he had crossed the canal on pipes beneath the bridge. His commander criticised the other guards for being too passive.

On 11 March 1962 a West Berlin customs officer found a body in a GDR border police uniform in the Teltow Canal at the Späthbrücke in Britz. It had been in the water for weeks, and death had been caused by drowning without external violence. West Berlin authorities identified him as Georg Feldhahn. The Stasi then concluded that he had fallen into the icy canal during his escape. His sister learned of his death only in the 1990s.