Klaus Müller lets the Panke carry him into the Spree and dives to the Kronprinzenufer

Klaus Müller, a dentistry student in East Berlin, wanted to pass his preliminary medical examination (Physikum) before fleeing; he did so in the spring of 1962. His mother and brother lived in West Berlin. Because he was a good swimmer he planned to dive to the West, using a closed-circuit diving set that gave off no air bubbles. His mother and brother brought the equipment over from West Berlin piece by piece; they painted the oxygen bottles red and passed them off as car fire extinguishers.

He could not get near the border waters, so he tried another way. One night in the autumn of 1962 he climbed into the Panke at Reinhardtstraße and let the stream, where it ran in a pipe, wash him through into the Spree; he had tested this beforehand with pieces of wood. From the outfall at the Schiffbauerdamm he dived straight into the Spree.

When he surfaced briefly to get his bearings, border guards saw him and fired at once. He did not notice, as he was already under water again. He dived along the Spree to the western Kronprinzenufer and only climbed out there; he learned from the West Berlin policemen who met him that he had been shot at.