Sacrower See – one friend makes it, Rainer Liebeke drowns
Rainer Liebeke and his friend Dirk K. tried to swim about 500 metres across the Sacrower See; the friend reached West Berlin, but Liebeke, hampered by a broken collarbone, drowned.
Rainer Liebeke was born on 11 September 1951 in Gotha. A trained car mechanic and taxi driver in Erfurt, he was a keen licensed motorcycle racer. Through a motorcycle club he knew Dirk K., about nine years younger, who had served his military service in this border area from 1983 to 1985.
On 2 September 1986 the two travelled by train to Potsdam, claiming they were looking for motorcycle parts. After dark they crossed marshy, reed-covered ground to the Sacrower See, where about 500 metres of water separated them from the West Berlin shore.
Liebeke was still recovering from a collarbone fracture sustained in a racing accident. The younger man swam ahead; they kept in touch with quiet calls, but at some point Liebeke stopped answering. Dirk K. reached West Berlin around 4 a.m. on 3 September.
About a week later schoolchildren found Liebeke's body in the lake; GDR border troops recovered it by boat and identified him from his documents.
Sources
- Liebeke, RainerChronik der Mauer
- Rainer LiebekeWikipedia (de)
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