18 August 1961 · Guards who fled · Rudow, Altglienicke and the Teltow Canal
A police sergeant swims the Teltow Canal
At 10.00 on 18 August 1961 Kurt Sch., an Oberwachtmeister in the Volkspolizei's Rummelsburg pioneer platoon, swam across the Teltow Canal to West Berlin, about 200 metres west of the Massante Bridge.
At about 10.00 on 18 August 1961 Oberwachtmeister Kurt Sch., of the Volkspolizei pioneer platoon from Rummelsburg, swam across the Teltow Canal about 200 metres west of the Massante Bridge and reached West Berlin. The Stasi's Treptow district office passed on the report at 11.15, and the Treptow police informed headquarters at 11.55.
A Stasi report of the same day traced the desertion to a contact he had made earlier with a civilian. A later Stasi summary said he had already spoken of deserting in mid-1960, and that West Berlin civilians had called on the posts there to desert.
Sources
Whose account is this? Told from GDR records only: documents of the GDR’s police, Stasi or border troops. No other account of the event is cited.
GDR records
- Stab PdVP Berlin – Journal der Handlung, 18 August 1961Chronik der Mauer (document: Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 303/26.1/239)
- Bericht Nr. 447/61, 18 August 1961 – Lage nach dem Bau der Berliner Mauer (2)Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv (DDR im Blick)
- Einzel-Information Nr. 462/61, 20 August 1961 – Flucht von BereitschaftspolizistenStasi-Unterlagen-Archiv (DDR im Blick)
Facts checked against the sources: September 2026
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Cite this page
Berlin Experiences, “A police sergeant swims the Teltow Canal”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/kurt-sch-teltowkanal-massantebruecke-1961/ (accessed [date]).
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