Berlin Wall Escapes1961–1989

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 a person presumably trying to escape by the Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark. On 21 July East Berlin police released 18-year-old Klaus Gomert to West Berlin, and ADN claimed he was the would-be escaper – Gomert contradicted parts of the East German account.

Colour photo from a height: a broad park with lawns, paths and young trees stretches away towards city buildings under a blue sky; two tall floodlight masts rise on the right.
The Mauerpark in March 2007, laid out on the former border strip beside the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark, whose floodlight masts stand on the right Photo: Franz Richter ( User:FRZ ). Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

According to the US Mission in West Berlin, 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 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.

Colour photo: a long concrete wall covered in colourful graffiti runs along a paved path; a person in red crouches at the wall and a boy walks past, with a tall floodlight mast behind the trees.
A surviving stretch of the inner border wall in the Mauerpark, covered in graffiti, beside a floodlight mast of the Jahn-Sportpark (2011) Photo: Stadtpoetin. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

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 successive incidents at the Wall on the eve of the World Festival of Youth and Students, was trying to put on a better public face.

Where the accounts differ

The sources do not tell this story the same way. We give each version with its source rather than choose one; the summary and map follow the best-supported version.

When it happened

The article gives both and says the contradictions cannot be resolved. The US Mission telegrams (00:05 on 20 July) and Der Spiegel 31/1973 (GDR report: 20.7., about 00.00; West Berlin police observation dated to the night to 21 July) are further versions that could not be re-read in round 12.

How many shots were fired

Was the man hit and photographed?

Sources

Western official records

Press

Historians and memorials

Facts checked against the sources: November 2026

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Cite this page

Berlin Experiences, “Klaus Gomert at the Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark – shot at, arrested, then expelled to the West”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/klaus-gomert-ludwig-jahn-sportpark-1973/ (accessed [date]).

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