Udo Düllick – drowned under fire in the Spree
Railway worker Udo Düllick tried to swim the Spree at the Oberbaumbrücke around midnight; chased by gunfire, he drowned just short of the western bank.
Udo Düllick was born on 3 August 1936 in Werder near Strausberg and worked as an engineer for the Reichsbahn in Berlin-Lichtenberg.
On the evening of 4 October 1961 an altercation at a compulsory works celebration reportedly left him in trouble with a superior. He took a taxi to Warschauer Straße, undressed on the grounds of the Osthafen mill and jumped into the Spree to swim to West Berlin.
Border guards on the Oberbaumbrücke spotted him at once. After flares and warning shots they fired directly at him. He nearly reached the western bank but drowned; the autopsy found no gunshot wounds, and exhaustion during the pursuit is given as the cause.
His body was found on the West Berlin bank about an hour later.
Sources
- Düllick, UdoChronik der Mauer
- Todesopfer im GrenzflussEast Side Gallery (Stiftung Berliner Mauer)
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