Günter Litfin – shot swimming the Humboldthafen

Günter Litfin was born in Berlin-Weißensee on 19 January 1937. A tailor, he had worked at a bespoke tailoring studio in West Berlin and hoped to become a theatre costume designer; the closure of the sector border on 13 August 1961 cut him off from his job.

Shortly after 4 p.m. on 24 August 1961 he reached the bank of the Humboldthafen from the Charité grounds, in the area between Friedrichstraße and Lehrter stations. East Berlin transport police spotted him, shouted warnings and fired warning shots. Litfin jumped into the harbour basin and began to swim towards the West Berlin shore.

Police on the railway bridge opened fire. When he had almost reached the western bank he was hit in the back of the head and sank. East Berlin firefighters recovered his body about three hours later.

His younger brother Jürgen was arrested and interrogated for one night the following day, and later worked to preserve Günter's memory. A memorial stone was placed near the Sandkrugbrücke in 1962, a street in Weißensee was named after him in 2000, and a former border command post nearby became a memorial site that has belonged to the Berlin Wall Foundation since 2017.

After reunification two of the men who fired were convicted of manslaughter in 1997 and received suspended sentences.