The 16-year-old Wolf-Olaf Muszynski is recovered dead by West Berlin police, 1 April 1963 (Photo: Polizeihistorische Sammlung/Der Polizeipräsident in Berlin)
In West Germany, the television network “Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen” (ZDF) starts broadcasts.
17 April
1963
ENGLISH: Flucht mit dem Panzer: Das Loch in der Mauer am Tag danach, 18. April 1963 (Photo: Polizeihistorische Sammlung/Der Polizeipräsident in Berlin)
A 19-year-old civil employee of the National People’s Army, Wolfgang Engels, tries to break through the Berlin border between Treptow and Neukölln in a stolen Soviet armoured personnel carrier, but becomes stuck in the Wall.
While getting out, he is hit by several bullets, but manages to crawl over the Wall from the vehicle’s bonnet under covering fire from a West Berlin policeman. He is transported to a West Berlin hospital, badly injured.
I called out: ‘Don’t shoot!’ – He fired anyway (in German)
Further construction of the Wall, 18 April 1963 (Photo: Polizeihistorische Sammlung/Der Polizeipräsident in Berlin)