18 August 1987 · Over the wall · Treptow and Neukölln
Dogs, three shots and an arrest at the Sonnenallee crossing
Early on 18 August 1987 West Berlin police and customs officers at the Sonnenallee crossing heard dogs barking and three shots on the East Berlin side, then saw border guards lead away a man who had tried to escape. The three Western commandants protested the use of force.
On 18 August 1987 West Berlin police and customs officers on duty at the Sonnenallee sector crossing point, between Neukölln in the American sector and Treptow in East Berlin, heard dogs barking on the East Berlin side of the checkpoint area, followed by three shots.
From their side of the crossing they then saw East German border guards leading a person away. According to West Berlin police, quoted by UPI, the guards fired the three shots at about 2.20 a.m. to halt an attempted escape to the American sector, and the man they led away had tried to flee; he was apparently unhurt. He was not named.
The American, British and French commandants in Berlin protested the use of force. The US Mission in Berlin reported the incident to Washington in telegram 2879 of 20 August 1987.
In December 1987 the Mission listed the incident as one of five shootings at the Wall since 21 July 1987. At least three of these five were linked to confirmed escape attempts and were protested by the Allied commandants, and the Mission cited them in weighing press reports that the GDR's shoot-to-kill order had been lifted, concluding that any escapee still ran a very real risk. A few days later the US Embassy in East Berlin repeated the dates of the five incidents and concluded that since Honecker's visit to West Germany in September 1987 the order had probably been suspended for civilian escapers.
Sources
- Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981–1988, Volume X, Eastern Europe, Document 301: Telegram From the Mission in West Berlin to the Department of State, 11 December 1987 ('Has the GDR Lifted the Schiessbefehl?')US Department of State, Office of the Historian
- Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981–1988, Volume X, Eastern Europe, Document 302: Telegram From the Embassy in the German Democratic Republic, 17 December 1987 ('Does the GDR Still Shoot at the Wall?')US Department of State, Office of the Historian
- Family flees East Germany in crop-spraying plane (19 August 1987)UPI Archives
Spotted an error, or know more about this story? Email us a correction or addition
Related escapes
9 September 1971
A circus hand runs for the Wall near the Sonnenallee crossing
After an evening in the pubs of Baumschulenweg, a circus worker climbed the hinterland fence off the Heidekampweg; guards fired 43 rounds and wounded him in the hip and knees.
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 a person presumably trying to escape by the Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark. On 21 July East Berlin police released 18-year-old Klaus Gomert to West Berlin, and ADN claimed he was the would-be escaper – Gomert contradicted parts of the East German account.
25 September 1973
Thirty rounds at four escapers opposite Kohlhasenbrück
On the evening of 25 September 1973 East German border guards fired about thirty rounds at four people apparently trying to cross into the American sector opposite Kohlhasenbrück. The four were led away; several bullets hit apartments on the West Berlin side.
12 February 1987
Lutz Schmidt shot helping his friend over the Wall
Truck drivers Lutz Schmidt and Peter Schulze drove to the border with ladders; Schmidt helped his colleague onto the Wall and was shot dead as he tried to follow.
