22 October 1961 · Guards who fled
Dog handler Werner K. slips away over the cemetery wall
While training his successor as a dog handler in the Sophien cemetery, Private Werner K. made an excuse to leave his comrade and disappeared over the wall.
On 22 October 1961 Gefreiter (private) Werner K. was on duty as a dog handler in the Sophien cemetery, where the border ran along the cemetery wall.
His task that day was to train the man who was to take over from him.
On a pretext he separated from his comrade and vanished over the cemetery wall into West Berlin.
Sources
- Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer – Bereich A: Die Mauer und der Todesstreifen (Orientierungsplan und Ereignismarken), marker A 322Stiftung Berliner Mauer
- A 322 – Digital Guide, Berlin Wall MemorialStiftung Berliner Mauer
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