18 March 1965 · Over the wall · Rudow, Altglienicke and the Teltow Canal
An apprentice cuts through three fences at Schönefeld and is shot at the last one
Late at night a car-panel-beater apprentice from Berlin cut through three wire fences on the Schönefeld border. The guards heard him and fired 39 rounds just as he reached the last fence.
At about 11.30 p.m. on 18 March 1965 border guards in the section Schönefeld – Siedlung Rehpfuhl heard noises in the barriers. About 50 metres away they saw a man who had already cut through three wire fences and was right in front of the last one.
They opened aimed fire, 39 rounds in all. Hit in the left lower and upper leg, the left upper arm and the left side of the head, he was dragged back out of the barriers into the vehicle ditch by guards from two more posts, given first aid and taken away – before West Berlin police and US military police arrived on the other side.
He turned out to be an apprentice car panel beater from Berlin NO 55, born in 1948, the son of a retired teacher. He was operated on and was out of danger. According to the Stasi, he said he had decided in summer 1964, after quarrels at home, to leave the GDR and live with his aunt in West Berlin.
Sources
Whose account is this? Told from a GDR record only: documents of the GDR’s police, Stasi or border troops. No other account of the event is cited.
GDR records
- Jahrgang 1965: Verhinderter Grenzdurchbruch bei Schönefeld – Einzelinformation Nr. 246/65, 20 March 1965Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv (DDR im Blick)
Facts checked against the sources: September 2026
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Berlin Experiences, “An apprentice cuts through three fences at Schönefeld and is shot at the last one”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/schoenefeld-rehpfuhl-apprentice-shot-1965/ (accessed [date]).
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