20 July 1973 – 21 July 1973 · Over the wall
Klaus Gomert at the Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark – shot at, arrested, then expelled to the West
In the night of 19–20 July 1973 East Berlin border guards fired bursts at someone trying to get over the Wall by the Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark. Two days later the GDR pushed 18-year-old Klaus Gomert across to West Berlin, claiming he was the would-be escaper – and Gomert contradicted parts of the East German account.
At 00:05 on 20 July 1973 East Berlin border guards near the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark in Prenzlauer Berg fired several bursts at a person who, according to the US Mission in West Berlin, was presumably trying to escape. West Berlin observers then saw guards photographing what looked like a lifeless body. The spot faced the edge of the French sector opposite Bernauer Straße.
The West Berlin Senat protested, and the French commandant issued a statement on behalf of all three Western Allies: shots had been fired at a would-be escapee 'who was hit and perhaps killed', and the Allies condemned 'this new act of violence' at a time when Europe was hoping for peaceful change.
On 21 July at 3 p.m. East Berlin police released an 18-year-old East Berliner, Klaus Gomert, to the West through the Chausseestraße crossing. The East German news agency ADN claimed the next day that he was the man who had failed to scale the Wall near the sports park, stressed that his expulsion was no precedent, and described him as a petty criminal. Before his release he had been shown on East German television, together with the alleged victim of another shooting at the Wall on 8 July.
Interviewed by a Western reporter as soon as he arrived, Gomert said he had indeed tried to escape, but at about 10 p.m. the previous evening rather than after midnight. Warning shots over his head had stopped him; he denied having been photographed by the guards or having lain on the ground for more than an hour, as West Berlin observers had reported, and he rejected ADN's claims about criminal convictions. West Berlin police said he had been drunk at the time of his attempt.
A Senat spokesman called the handling of the case a 'deplorable game' with a human being. West Berlin police widened the holes in the ADN story and challenged the East German side to produce the photographs its guards had been seen taking. The US Mission judged that the GDR, embarrassed by a series of shooting incidents on the eve of the World Festival of Youth and Students, was trying to put on a better public face.
Sources
- Shooting at the Wall (telegram 1973BERLIN01249, 20 July 1973)US National Archives, Access to Archival Databases (Central Foreign Policy Files, RG 59)
- GDR claims to release would-be escapee (telegram 1973BERLIN01260, 24 July 1973)US National Archives, Access to Archival Databases (Central Foreign Policy Files, RG 59)
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