13 October 1974 · Over the wall
Felled by a single aimed shot opposite Neukölln
On a Sunday afternoon in October 1974 West Berlin police watched a young man run towards the Wall opposite Neukölln. An East German guard knelt and brought him down with one aimed shot; he was carried away, apparently wounded.
At about 3.45 p.m. on 13 October 1974 West Berlin police saw an unidentified young man approach the Wall opposite the Neukölln district in the American sector, apparently trying to escape.
Several East German border guards rushed to the spot. One of them knelt and felled the young man with a single aimed shot. The guards then carried him away; to the observers he appeared to be wounded.
The same day the US Mission issued a statement in which the US commandant, together with the French and British commandants, deplored 'this inhumane use of armed force in the heart of Berlin' and said such callous disregard for life worked against international efforts to reduce tension in Europe.
The telegram gives neither the man's name nor his fate after he was carried off.
Sources
- Incident at Wall (telegram 1974BERLIN01841, 14 October 1974)US National Archives, Access to Archival Databases (Central Foreign Policy Files, RG 59)
Spotted an error, or know more about this story? Email us a correction or addition
Related escapes
21 November 1975
Thirty rounds near the Waßmannsdorfer Chaussee
On the evening of 21 November 1975 two Kreuzberg residents saw an East German guard fire about 30 rounds from an automatic weapon at an unarmed man trying to cross from the Schönefeld area into the American sector. He lay still for ten minutes before a military vehicle took him away.
20 July 1973 – 21 July 1973
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.
26 November 1965 – 3 December 1965
Erich Kühn shot 'blindly into the bushes' at Kiefholzstraße
Sixty-two-year-old Erich Kühn was wounded when a guard, ordered to act, fired blindly at a noise on the railway embankment at Kiefholzstraße; he died eight days later.
6 October 1972
Over the waterworks wall and onto the Schillingbrücke – 46 shots
A young circus stoker climbed the wall of the waterworks on Holzmarktstraße and the fence at the Schillingbrücke, and tried to run across the bridge. Guards fired 46 rounds; he collapsed about 30 metres beyond the bridgehead with life-threatening internal injuries.
