Hans-Joachim Zock – a planned swim across the Spree

Hans-Joachim Zock was born in Berlin on 26 January 1940 and last lived in Halle-Neustadt. Almost everything known about him comes from files of the Ministry for State Security. He had lived in West Germany from 1956 to 1960 before returning to East Berlin.

From 1965 he worked at the Buna chemical works. When accidents and other incidents occurred there, he was repeatedly treated as a suspect, questioned for hours and kept under Stasi observation, although the Stasi itself later noted that no offence had ever been established against him. He was dismissed in May 1970 and later lost a job as a waiter.

On 13 November 1970 he left his flat in Halle, saying he was looking for work, and travelled by express train to East Berlin. That evening he met a relative of his first wife in a pub; according to her he was not drunk when he left.

Four days later a coat and a suit belonging to him were found on the Spree embankment on the grounds of a building-materials works. On 17 December 1970 the East Berlin water police recovered his body from the Spree near the Heizkraftwerk Mitte. Waterproof-wrapped in his clothing were his identity documents and a stamped letter to an aunt in West Germany, dated 12 November, announcing his plan to flee by swimming the Spree and describing the long Stasi interrogations he had endured.

The post-mortem placed his death between 14 and 17 November 1970 and found drowning to be the most likely cause, with no other injuries.