20 November 1961 · Swimming · The Spree between Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain
A swimmer under fire at the Schillingbrücke reaches the West Berlin bank
At 0.55 a.m. on 20 November 1961 a man unknown to the Stasi tried to swim the Spree at the Schillingbrücke. Twenty submachine-gun rounds and seven pistol shots were fired at him from the water police boat 'Toni 132' and he was injured, but he reached the West Berlin bank, where the fire brigade and West Berlin police pulled him out.
A Stasi report of 20 November 1961 on reactions to the border works of the night of 19 to 20 November – when, according to the archive's note, army units and work crews closed off the Brandenburg Gate with a concrete wall – lists other incidents that night. At 0.55 a.m. a man whose name was not yet known tried to swim through the Spree to West Berlin at the Schillingbrücke, near DHZ Kohle. Twenty submachine-gun rounds and seven pistol shots were fired at him from the water police boat 'Toni 132', and he was injured.
He still reached the West Berlin bank, where the fire brigade and West Berlin police pulled him out and took him away. The Stasi's check found that there were no wire obstacles or other barriers on this stretch of the border, and that he had deceived the civilian works patrol. The same report lists three other people arrested trying to cross: a 19-year-old from Berlin at the Oberbaumbrücke control point and two people from Leipzig near the Schillingbrücke.
Sources
- Jahrgang 1961: Reaktionen auf die Sicherungsaktionen v. 19. Nov. (1) – Einzel-Information Nr. 721/61, 20. November 1961Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv (DDR im Blick)
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