Berlin Wall Escapes1961–1989

17 August 1961 · Swimming · The Spree between Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain

Overboard from an excursion boat at the Schillingbrücke

On the morning of 17 August 1961 a man jumped from an East Berlin passenger boat near the Schillingbrücke and swam to the West Berlin bank.

Colour photo of a wet, empty checkpoint area with concrete planters and a booth; a Wall section stands at right and a red-brick building with a tall chimney is in the distance.
Köpenicker Straße looking towards the Schillingbrücke over the Spree in April 1990, with a Wall segment still standing Photo: Roehrensee. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

At 8.37 a.m. on 17 August 1961, according to the East Berlin police journal, a man jumped from a passenger boat near the Schillingbrücke and swam to West Berlin. The Stasi situation report of the same day mentioned the case as one of the 'breakthroughs' that still showed gaps in the new border, and added that people were also still swimming across the Teltow Canal.

It was not the first such case. The day before, police had watched a person jump from a barge near the Schillingbrücke and reach the West Berlin bank. Citing 'incidents', the water police then stopped passenger boats from running as far as the Jannowitzbrücke and kept them to Treptow, but the district and Treptow party leadership had the service resumed the same afternoon, with a police boat escorting the boats along the border.

A stone bridge pier in dark water, with a wall and industrial buildings on the far riverbank under a grey sky.
The Spree near the Schillingbrücke seen from Kreuzberg in November 1987, with the Wall on the East Berlin bank Photo: Roehrensee. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Sources

  1. Jahrgang 1961: Lage nach dem Bau der Berliner Mauer (1) – Bericht Nr. 440/61, 17. August 1961Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv (DDR im Blick)
  2. Stab Präsidium der Volkspolizei Berlin, Abt. Information – Journal der Handlung, 17 August 1961Chronik der Mauer (document: Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 303/26.1/239)
  3. Stab Präsidium der Volkspolizei Berlin, Abt. Information – Journal der Handlung, 16 August 1961Chronik der Mauer (document: Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 303/26.1/239)

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  2. 17 August 1961

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  4. 18 August 1961

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