Rudow, Altglienicke and the Teltow Canal
The south-eastern corner of West Berlin, where the Teltow Canal and the fields towards Schönefeld separated Rudow and Buckow from Johannisthal, Altglienicke and Großziethen.
In the district of Treptow the inner-city barriers began at the southern tip of Altglienicke, between the Schönefelder and Waltersdorfer Chaussee, and ran north to the Teltow Canal and along it.1 The canal was the largest section of Treptow's border,2 and at the Dörferblick, a rubbish hill, the line turned north at a right angle towards Buckow.3
On 13 August 1961 about eighteen people crossed the canal between the Massante and Wrede bridges while about 400 West Berliners gathered on the far bank, and Manfred Wenzel swam over with a briefcase. In the following weeks men building the fences crossed them, two riot-police pioneers through the wire at Grüneck and four cadets from the works at Schönefeld, and a woman cycled up to the Rudower Chaussee fence and climbed over. In 1966 Eberhard Schulz was shot at the Rudower Wäldchen when he stood up in front of the guards; his companion said they had given up, the guards that he tried to run. In 1967 Max Sahmland was shot while swimming the canal and sank a few metres from the western bank, and Lutz Schmidt was shot near Rheingoldstraße in February 1987 after helping his friend onto the Wall. In August 1986 two guards climbed the Wall at Groß Ziethen and threw their guns back; in September 1988 two metalworkers set off the alarm lights at Buckow yet got through.
A long section of the rear wall stands in its original place at the Rudower Höhe; much of the strip between the canal and Waltersdorfer Chaussee lies under the A113 or in the Landschaftspark Rudow/Altglienicke,4 and towards Lichtenrade the patrol road and some of the lamps survive.3 Stelae stand for Widera and Feldhahn near the Massantebrücke, for Kollender and Sahmland near the Ernst-Ruska-Ufer, for Kutscher near the Hornkleepfad, for Schmidt and the Wehages near Waltersdorfer Chaussee,4 and a memorial site for Schulz is near the Kölner Damm.3
Sources for this text
- Mauergedenken und Erinnerung an Fluchttunnel am 13. August 2022 (press release)Bezirksamt Treptow-Köpenick / berlin.de
- Mauerweg: Von Warschauer Straße nach Schöneweideberlin.de
- Mauerweg: Von Schönefeld nach Lichtenradeberlin.de
- Mauerweg: Von Schöneweide nach Schönefeldberlin.de
Checked October 2026. Facts taken from an escape record on this site link to that record, which lists its own sources.
21 events: 13 successful escapes, 2 failed attempts and 6 fatal attempts. At least 40 people reached the West in these events.
13 August 1961
Manfred Wenzel swims the Teltow Canal on the first evening
On the evening the border was sealed, a father slid into the Teltow Canal at Johannisthal and swam to Rudow with a briefcase in one hand. His wife and children followed a year later in an escape helper's car.
13 August 1961
About eighteen people cross the Teltow Canal on the first evening
On 13 August 1961 about eighteen people left East Berlin across the Teltow Canal between the Massante and Wrede bridges. The police saw young people swimming across, some using air mattresses, while about 400 West Berliners gathered on the far bank.
15 August 1961
Two youths flee over the fence of the Eternit works
At about 5.55 p.m. on 15 August 1961 a GDR customs commissioner on patrol found that two male youths had fled over the fence of the 'Eternitwerk'.
16 August 1961
Four riot-police cadets slip away from the barrier works at Schönefeld
On 16 August 1961 four NCO cadets of a riot-police training unit, deployed on engineering work near the Schönefeld control point, crossed into West Berlin. Their unit only noticed when children said they had seen riot policemen on the western side.
16 August 1961
Ulrich H. goes into the bushes and does not come back
On the evening of 16 August 1961 Ulrich H., born 1942, a riot policeman on patrol between the Rudower Chaussee control point and the Kiesberg, said at about 8.30 p.m. that he was going into the bushes to relieve himself. He did not come back: he had deserted with his carbine, leaving his helmet and raincoat.
17 August 1961
Günter D. crawls under the wire while his partner sleeps
On 17 August 1961 the police found that riot-police cadet Günter D. had crawled under the barbed wire at Grüneck in Altglienicke while the second guard on the post was asleep, taking a pistol without ammunition. It was discovered at 6.05 a.m.
18 August 1961
A police sergeant swims the Teltow Canal
At 10.00 on 18 August 1961 Kurt Sch., an Oberwachtmeister in the Volkspolizei's Rummelsburg pioneer platoon, swam across the Teltow Canal to West Berlin, about 200 metres west of the Massante Bridge.
22 August 1961
Two pioneers go through the fence they were building at Grüneck
On 22 August 1961 two riot-police pioneers who were putting up fences at the Grüneck allotments in Altglienicke went through the wire into West Berlin; the superior present could not stop them.
31 August 1961
A former FU student cuts the fence at the Nibelungenweg
At about 6.50 p.m. on 31 August 1961 a man born in 1939 who had been a student at the Free University in West Berlin cut through the wire fence at the Nibelungenweg in Altglienicke; the guards noticed only when he was already in the West.
3 September 1961
A woman rides her bicycle up to the fence at the Rudower Chaussee and climbs over
At about 1.30 p.m. on 3 September 1961 a woman from Adlershof cycled up to the wire fence at the Rudower Chaussee control point and was over it before the guards could step in, leaving her bicycle, handbag and identity card behind.
19 December 1961
Georg Feldhahn – a border policeman's escape at the Massante Bridge
A 20-year-old border policeman on patrol at the Teltow Canal slipped away towards the bridge to West Berlin and vanished; the GDR assumed he had escaped, until his body was found in the canal in March 1962.
15 January 1963
Horst Kutscher – shot 25 metres from West Berlin
On the night before the SED party congress, coal worker Horst Kutscher and a colleague crawled towards the border in Johannisthal; about 25 metres from West Berlin shots were fired and he was killed.
23 August 1963 – 8 September 1963
Border guard Siegfried Widera fatally injured at the Massante Bridge
Three construction workers overpowered two East German border guards at the Massante Bridge and ran across to West Berlin; guard Siegfried Widera died of a fractured skull two weeks later.
18 March 1965
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.
30 March 1966
Eberhard Schulz shot after standing up to surrender
Farm worker Eberhard Schulz, 20, and his friend Dieter K. had already given up when three guards found them; Schulz rose from the grass and was shot in the face and neck.
25 April 1966
Michael Kollender – a soldier's flight from guard duty
Conscript Michael Kollender left his sentry post in uniform and ran for the Teltow Canal; four guards fired 109 rounds and he was hit a few metres from the border; he died in the People's Police hospital.
27 January 1967
Max Sahmland – shot while swimming the Teltow Canal
Wounded after setting off the alarm at the signal fence, Max Sahmland reached the Teltow Canal and swam for the western bank, but guards kept firing and he sank only metres from safety.
21 November 1975
Thirty rounds near the Waßmannsdorfer Chaussee
On the evening of 21 November 1975 two Kreuzberg residents saw an East German guard fire about 30 rounds from an automatic weapon at an unarmed man apparently trying to cross from the Schönefeld area into the American sector. He lay still for ten minutes before a military vehicle took him away.
17 August 1986
Two border guards climb the Wall at Groß Ziethen and celebrate in a West Berlin tavern
Days after the Wall's 25th anniversary, two East German border guards left their watchtower, helped each other up the Wall between Groß Ziethen and Neukölln, threw their guns back into the East and went to a West Berlin tavern.
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.
5 September 1988
Two young metalworkers set off the alarm lights and still get through at Buckow
At 3.20 a.m. on 5 September 1988 two metalworkers aged 18 and 21 climbed the barriers between the Groß Ziethen allotment colony and Buckow; they triggered the alarm lights but the guards did not stop them.