Günter Litfin (19 January 1937 – 24 August 1961) was a German tailor who became the
second known person to die at the
Berlin Wall. Litfin was the first victim to be killed by
East German border troops, the first to succumb to
gunshot wounds
A gunshot wound (GSW) is a penetrating injury caused by a projectile (e.g. a bullet) from a gun (typically firearm or air gun). Damages may include bleeding, bone fractures, organ damage, wound infection, loss of the ability to move part ...
, and was the first male victim.
Biography
Günter Litfin was born on 19 January 1937 in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
,
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, along with a twin brother, Alois, who was murdered by a Nazi physician during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
.
[Der Kommunismus ist ein Scheißhaufen ohne Ende! (Communism is a turd heap without end!)]
Focus Online, 9 October 2014
Litfin lived in
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
, in the borough of
Weißensee of
East Berlin, and like his father Albert (a butcher) was a member of the illegal local branch of the
Christian Democrats Union, the centre-right
West German
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
political party. A tailor by trade, Litfin was a
Grenzgänger (cross-border commuter) working near the
Zoological Garden
A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes.
The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zool ...
in West Berlin. On 13 August 1961, the border between East Berlin and West Berlin was abruptly closed by East Germany, effectively trapping him in East Berlin. Shortly before the border was closed, Litfin had found an apartment in
Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Prussia, it is best known for Charlottenburg Palace, the ...
, West Berlin, closer to his workplace, and on 12 August, only the day before, he had driven to Charlottenburg with his brother Jürgen to furnish his new apartment. Litfin's intention to escape East Germany was abruptly halted the next morning, as
road block
A roadblock is a temporary installation set up to control or block traffic along a road.
Roadblock may also refer to:
* Traffic obstruction
** Raasta roko ("obstruct the road" in Hindi), a commonly practiced form of protest in India
Media and ent ...
s had already been placed and the first
barbed wire fences of the
Berlin Wall were built.
Death
On 24 August, at around 4 pm, Litfin attempted to illegally escape by swimming from Humboldthafen, a small harbour in the
River Spree
Spree may refer to:
Geography
* Spree (river), river in Germany
Film and television
* ''The Spree'', a 1998 American television film directed by Tommy Lee Wallace
* ''Spree'' (film), a 2020 American film starring Joe Keery
* "Spree" (''Numbers' ...
, on a planned route through a small
canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...
branching off from the river westwards into West Berlin.
[Short portrait of Günter Litfin at Chronik der Mauer]
/ref> However, upon crossing the railway bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...
that constituted the border, Litfin was discovered by officers of the East German transportation police, and was ordered to immediately swim back. Litfin lifted his hands from the water to exit the river on the West Berlin side, and was then shot and killed.
Litfin was buried at the St. Hedwig Cemetery, in Weißensee, on 31 August 1961. The presence of Stasi personnel at the burial ensured that the truth behind his death was not openly revealed. According to his brother Jürgen, the funeral was "a farce" since most at the mourning knew that his brother's death was no accident, and that he had been killed for trying to leave East Germany.
Aftermath
In memory of Günter Litfin, as well as all other victims of the Wall, a memorial was established in 1992 on the initiative of Jürgen Litfin (Günter Litfin's younger brother). It is located in the watchtower of the former "Kieler Eck" on the Berlin-Spandauer Schifffahrtskanal.[Zorniges Gedenken an den ersten Mauertoten (Angry remembrance of the first Berlin Wall victim)](_blank)
Rheinische Post, 10 August 2011, page A6. In addition, on 24 August 2000, the Weißensee street formerly named Straße 209 was renamed Günter-Litfin-Straße.[https://berlin.kauperts.de/Strassen/Guenter-Litfin-Strasse-13086-Berlin#Geschichte Kauperts, Straßenverzeichnis Berlin (Street directory Berlin), "Günter-Litfin-Straße"] Additionally, a street in his home district of Weißensee was named after him. One of the crosses at the White Crosses memorial site next to the Reichstag building is devoted to him.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent reunification of East and West Germany, the Berlin Regional Court found the border guard accused of shooting Litfin to be guilty of manslaughter, and sentenced him to 18 months prison, which was suspended.
Gallery
File:2010-03-20-mauer-berlin-by-RalfR-09.jpg, East German border guards retrieving the body of Günter Litfin from the River Spree
Spree may refer to:
Geography
* Spree (river), river in Germany
Film and television
* ''The Spree'', a 1998 American television film directed by Tommy Lee Wallace
* ''Spree'' (film), a 2020 American film starring Joe Keery
* "Spree" (''Numbers' ...
File:Gedenkstein Guenter Litfin.jpg, Memorial stone at Sandkrug Bridge/Invalidenstraße in Berlin
File:Berlin, Spreeufer, Gedenkkreuze für Maueropfer 01.jpg, The leftmost of the White Crosses is devoted to him
File:Günter-Litfin-Str Weißensee 110524 AMA fec (70).JPG, Günter-Litfin-Straße in Weißensee
File:Heinersdorferstrasse32 a.jpg, Last East Berlin residence of Günter Litfin, Heinersdorfer Straße 32, Weißensee, front view
File:Heinersdorferstrasse32 c.jpg, Last East Berlin residence of Günter Litfin, Heinersdorfer Straße 32, Weißensee, side view
File:Sthedwigsfriedhoftor.jpg, Main gate at the St Hedwig's Cemetery, Smetanastraße 36-54, Weißensee, where Günter Litfin was buried in 1961
File:G%C3%BCnter_Litfin_memorial_stone_(aka).jpg, Memorial stone to Günter Litfin at the former guard tower
A guard tower is any military tower used for guarding an area. These towers are usually operated by military personnel, and are structures built in areas of established control. These include military bases and cities occupied by military forces. ...
, now the Günter Litfin Gedenkstätte, in Berlin
File:1943cover.pdf, Cover of the Berliner Adressbuch 1943. Internal pages used in the discussion of Günter Litfin, and other Berlin Wall victims
File:1943p1804.pdf, Page 1804 of the Berliner Adressbuch 1943, used in the discussion of Günter Litfin
See also
* List of deaths at the Berlin Wall
There were numerous deaths at the Berlin Wall, which stood as a barrier between West Berlin and East Berlin from 13 August 1961 until 9 November 1989. Before the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, 3.5 million East Germans circumvented ...
* Berlin Crisis of 1961
References
Literature
* Jürgen Litfin: ''Tod durch fremde Hand. Das erste Maueropfer in Berlin und die Geschichte einer Familie''. Verlag der Nation, Husum 2006, .
* Mathias Mesenhöller: ''Die grausame Mauer''. In: '' Geo'', 08/2011, S. 73
* Christine Brecht: ''Günter Litfin'', in: ''Die Todesopfer an der Berliner Mauer 1961–1989. Ein biographisches Handbuch.'' Links, Berlin 2009, , p. 37–39.
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Litfin
1937 births
1961 deaths
Deaths at the Berlin Wall
People from East Berlin
Deaths by firearm in East Germany
1960s in Berlin
German twins
People from Pankow
East German defectors