Kleinmachnow, Teltow and the Teltow Canal
The canal and the border land between Kleinmachnow and Teltow in the GDR and Zehlendorf and Lichterfelde in West Berlin.
From Lichterfelde-Süd the Wall Trail runs along the Teltow Canal (Teltowkanal) to the Knesebeckbrücke; beyond the harbour the border continued north of the canal as far as the Buschgrabensee.1 Between Teltow-Seehof and Lichterfelde the foremost barrier was a fence of expanded-metal panels on the canal bank, and the strip held a patrol road and a vehicle ditch.2
The canal records begin on 29 August 1961 with Roland Hoff, shot swimming it opposite Lichterfelde. Peter Mädler was shot in the canal near the harbour entrance in 1963, just short of the border line, and Karl-Heinz Kube was killed on the land nearby in 1966, one fence from West Berlin. Others got through: two lorry drivers drove a loaded concrete truck through the fences to the bank and swam in 1964, three young people scaled the barriers with a ladder and swam the 40-metre canal in 1986, and in 1983 two border guards paired to watch each other swam the canal together in uniform, at a spot the report does not give. On the land section, Harry Seidel was arrested at a betrayed 70-metre tunnel into Kleinmachnow in November 1962, Walter Kittel was shot after surrendering in 1965, and in 1985 an 18-year-old used a ladder at Erlenweg to get into the strip and crossed every barrier under fire. At Teltow-Seehof, Klaus Garten was shot on a garden fence in 1965, and a train driver and his wife dug 17 metres of tunnel from their cellar at Sigridshorst before giving up.
Stelae for Mädler and Kube stand at the Knesebeckbrücke, for Hoff on the Teltow bank, for Garten in the Paul-Gerhardt-Straße and for Kittel at the Berlepschstraße, and a memorial stone for Hoff stands on the Lichterfelde bank he did not reach.134 After the Wall fell, Japanese citizens planted the strip between Teltow-Seehof and Lichterfelde with cherry trees.2 At Dreilinden the preserved command tower of the Drewitz checkpoint holds the Checkpoint Bravo association's exhibition and border trail.1
Sources for this text
- Mauerweg: Von Lichterfelde Süd nach Griebnitzseeberlin.de
- Mauerreste: Teltow-SeehofChronik der Mauer
- Mauerreste: KleinmachnowChronik der Mauer
- Mauerreste: Teltow-StadtChronik der Mauer
Checked October 2026. Facts taken from an escape record on this site link to that record, which lists its own sources.
19 events: 7 successful escapes, 2 partly successful escapes, 4 failed attempts and 6 fatal attempts. At least 26 people reached the West in these events.
23 August 1961
Two volunteer firemen from Groß Kreuz leave the border works at Kleinmachnow
Two members of the Groß Kreuz volunteer fire brigade, who had signed up to help build the border fortifications, went over to West Berlin near the Kleinmachnow/Ost control point on the morning of 23 August 1961.
29 August 1961
Roland Hoff – shot in the Teltow Canal
Five days after Günter Litfin's death, 27-year-old Roland Hoff jumped into the Teltow Canal with a briefcase under his arm and was killed by border police gunfire.
12 October 1961
Eleven try the sewer pipe at Wolfswerder 3 – three get through
On 12 October 1961 a group of eleven people tried to escape from the property at Wolfswerder 3 in Kleinmachnow through a sewer pipe that led into West Berlin. Three reached the West; eight were arrested.
13 October 1961
Nine refugees run on when their lorry sticks in the wire
On 13 October 1961 nine East Germans tried to drive a lorry through the border into Zehlendorf. It got stuck in the barriers, but all nine ran on under constant fire and reached West Berlin unhurt.
1 June 1962
Two girls try to help a friend escape at Lichterfelde-Süd
On 1 June 1962 a 16-year-old West Berlin girl was shot in the pelvis at the border in Lichterfelde-Süd while she and a 17-year-old friend were trying to help an acquaintance escape. The border guards arrested the friend.
14 November 1962
The Kleinmachnow Tunnel and the Arrest of Harry Seidel
The betrayal of a 70-metre tunnel into Kleinmachnow ended with the capture of the famous escape helper Harry Seidel, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in a show trial.
26 April 1963
Peter Mädler – 'Don't shoot!' in the Teltow Canal
A 19-year-old electrician swam into the Teltow Canal at Kleinmachnow before dawn; about ten metres from the border he called out 'Don't shoot!' but was shot dead by border guards.
20 April 1964
Concrete lorry to the canal bank, then a swim
Two lorry drivers drove a loaded Škoda truck from a Teltow concrete works through the border fences down to the canal bank and swam across to West Berlin.
17 August 1965 – 18 August 1965
Klaus Garten – left to bleed in the vehicle ditch
SED member Klaus Garten was shot in the thigh climbing a garden fence at the border in Teltow-Seehof; guards hid him from Western view and took him to a distant Stasi prison hospital, where he died.
18 October 1965
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.
16 December 1966
Karl-Heinz Kube shot near the Teltow harbour
Seventeen-year-old Karl-Heinz Kube and his friend Detlev S. were one fence from West Berlin when they were fired on; Kube was killed in the ditch where they sought cover.
22 August 1971
Three Leipzig youths over the fence at Kleinmachnow
Four friends from Leipzig cut their way through the signal fence at Kleinmachnow; three climbed the expanded-metal fence in their socks and reached West Berlin, the fourth was caught.
14 April 1981
Hans-Jürgen Starrost shot during capture at Sigridshorst
Facing a return to prison, 25-year-old Hans-Jürgen Starrost tried to climb into the border area at Teltow with a ladder. Caught and held, he was shot in the abdomen at close range and died a month later.
22 April 1982
The Abandoned Sigridshorst Tunnel
A train driver and his wife dug 17 metres of tunnel from their cellar but gave up with the border still several hundred metres away; a later balloon plan was betrayed and both were imprisoned.
23 December 1983
Two border guards meant to watch each other swim the Teltow Canal together
At about 1 a.m. on 23 December 1983 two East German border guards, paired so that each could watch the other, swam the Teltow Canal in uniform to a suburb in the American sector. They flagged down a car and were driven to a café, from where they called the police.
14 July 1985
Ladder escape from Kleinmachnow
An 18-year-old used a ladder at Erlenweg in Kleinmachnow to get into the death strip and crossed every barrier under fire; a Stasi report blamed a lamp that kept going dark for 30 seconds.
24 September 1986
Three young people swim the Teltow Canal
Shortly after 2 a.m. three young people used a wooden ladder to scale the barriers in Teltow and swam the 40-metre-wide Teltow Canal to Zehlendorf, helped by a guard's lost magazine.
25 September 1987
A couple's dump truck sticks in the barriers opposite Zehlendorf – and a friend films it
On the evening of 25 September 1987 a young woman and a man tried to break through the border opposite Zehlendorf with a truck. The attempt failed and East German border guards arrested them. A friend in West Berlin filmed it.
28 November 1988
A border guard disables his partner's gun and crosses at Ostpreußendamm
On 28 November 1988 a member of the GDR border troops fled to West Berlin with his weapon at the Ostpreußendamm in Steglitz, after removing the bolt from his patrol partner's submachine gun.