Günter Litfin
Memorial

In the end, there were 280 watchtowers occupied by border soldiers along the Berlin Wall. Thirty-two towers served as command posts where officers or sergeants commanded the soldiers stationed on watchtowers and patrolling the border section. The commander was responsible for ensuring that no successful escapes occurred in his section. He stayed in direct contact with his supervisors, watchtower crews and the East German police. All information was directed to the command post, where an emergency unit was maintained that could be employed against fugitives.

On August 24, 1961, Günter Litfin tried to escape to West Berlin not far from the command post at Kieler Ufer and was shot dead.

Günter Litfin was the first fugitive to be shot and killed at the Berlin Wall. Litfin was born on January 19, 1937. He had grown up in East Berlin, but worked in West Berlin until the Wall was built on August 13, 1961. Skeptical of the political system in the GDR and cut off from his job in the West after the border was closed, he began looking for a way to flee. On August 24, 1961, he attempted to swim across the Humboldt Harbor (near today’s main train station) to West Berlin. The East Berlin transport police fired warning shots before opening fire. He was killed by a bullet to the back of his head.

A memorial stone on the Sandkrug Bridge in West Berlin was dedicated to Günter Litfin in 1962. In 2015 , the stone was officially moved to the actual site of his death.

Günter’s brother, Jürgen Litfin (1940-2018), at first tried to adjust to conditions in the GDR. After his request to emigrate was rejected, he was arrested for allegedly assisting in an escape. The West German government paid for his release from prison and he moved to West Berlin with his family in 1981. But the memory of his brother would not let him go.

After the Wall fell, Jürgen Litfin lobbied to have the former command station preserved. Thanks to his civic commitment, the watchtower was left standing amidst new housing construction. On August 24, 2003, he opened a memorial site dedicated to the Berlin Wall and its first fatally shot victim. He founded an association that maintained the site until 2017 when it was entrusted to the Berlin Wall Foundation.

The memorial is open on weekends from May to September: Saturday and Sunday, 11 am to 5 pm. Public guided tours (in German) will be offered regularly.