18 October 1965 · Over the wall
Walter Kittel – killed after surrendering at Kleinmachnow
Walter Kittel and a chance acquaintance had already given themselves up when a border troop commander fired 30 shots at him from 15 metres; the shooter later received the longest sentence of any Wall guard.
Walter Kittel, 22, had fled to West Berlin once in 1959 and been brought back by his father. In May 1964 he was given a suspended sentence for insulting Walter Ulbricht while drunk. He lived in Kleinmachnow, close to the border installations.
On the evening of 17 October 1965 he met Eberhardt K. by chance in the 'Libelle' pub in Teltow-Seehof; both wanted to flee. Kittel had watched the border and the guards from his home and had a sketch and tools ready. At about 2.45 a.m. they climbed the rear fence behind the garden of An der Stammbahn 53, crossed the patrol path and vehicle ditch and crawled to within a few steps of the last fence.
Spotted by two guards, they came forward with their hands raised. During an argument a guard fired at their feet, wounding Eberhardt K.; the two took cover in the ditch and were fired on again, and K. was badly wounded. The section commander arrived and ordered them out.
When the unhurt Walter Kittel stood up, the commander fired 30 shots at him from about 15 metres, shouting: 'I swore no one gets out of here alive!' Kittel died at the scene. Eberhardt K. survived and was sentenced to two years.
In 1992 the Potsdam district court convicted the former commander of manslaughter; in 1993 the Federal Court of Justice raised this to murder with ten years' imprisonment, comparing the killing to an execution.
Sources
- Kittel, WalterChronik der Mauer
- Mit dem Rücken zur WandPotsdamer Neueste Nachrichten / Der Tagesspiegel
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