24 August 1961
The first would-be escapee is shot dead in Berlin: While attempting to escape to West Berlin via the Humboldt Harbour – which many people have succeeded in doing on previous days – Günter Litfin, a 24-year-old tailor’s apprentice, is killed by an officer of the People’s Police.
Günter Litfin had worked in West Berlin until 13 August 1961 and wanted to return there. The autopsy results of 24 August 1961 show the following cause of death: through-and-through gunshot wound through the neck and the floor of the mouth, probably combined with drowning. The entry wound is at the back of the neck on the right, the exit wound on the left side of the chin.
The next day, the central SED organ "Neues Deutschland" defames the victim, shot from behind, as a "criminal". Under the headline "Criminal Wanted to Escape", the following report is printed: "The People’s Police announce that, during the afternoon of 24 August 1961, a person was pursued in the railway area for criminal acts and called upon several times to give himself up to the People’s Police. Because he did not obey these calls, warning shots were fired. His disregard of these warning shots resulted in an aimed shot being fired. Thereupon the person fell into the Humboldt Harbour and probably drowned."
On the West Berlin side, checkpoint tents are set up at the seven border crossings, in which people entering from East Berlin are examined by police or civilian officials from the Senate administration departments.
All fourteen branches of the SED in West Berlin are closed and sealed off by police. On 25 August, the five branches of the FDGB (Free German Trade Union Federation) and all eight branches of the FDJ (Free German Youth) in West Berlin are also closed.
From West Berlin police reports: "On 24.8.1961 at around 7.30 p.m., 1 Sov. Jeep with 1 officer and 1 bus with Sov. soldiers entered West Berlin via the sector border crossing Friedrichstrasse/Zimmerstrasse to change guard at the Russian memorial. During their trip through Kreuzberg and Schöneberg they were accompanied by a growing number of mostly young moped, motorbike and car drivers. At the roundabout Yorckstrasse/Bülowstrasse/Goebenstrasse, these latter obstructed the Sov. vehicles. Police radio car patrols were able to drive back persons who were already trying to tip over the jeep and allow the trip to continue."
Suburban train boycott: As a result of the boycott, the number of passengers drops by 90 percent: from 500,000 before 13 August to around 50,000.
Washington: In an analysis of the steps and tactics that are to be expected of the Soviets with regard to Berlin, the CIA concludes that further drastic measures are not likely in the immediate future and that Khrushchev will probably wait and see what effect the measures of August 13 have, while sticking to his objective of either forcing concessions from the West in negotiations or unilaterally signing a peace treaty with the GDR.
In the Allied commandant’s office, an order is prepared – in agreement with the Senate – that is issued the next day (BKO of 25.8.1961): the establishment and running of offices in the territory of West Berlin for issuing permits for citizens of West Berlin to enter the Soviet sector is forbidden.
Willy Brandt gives a radio and television address in which he explains the reasons for this decision: "First, the issuing of permits to enter the eastern sector is in itself illegal. But what is much more serious is the attempt to become operative on West Berlin territory by order from the East. This must be rejected, for it would be a part of the ‘free city’ in Khrushchev’s sense if offices or auxiliary services of the so-called German Democratic Republic were to be established in West Berlin. The decision not to allow such offices, whether they are set up in the suburban railway system or in specially created premises disguised as travel agencies, was not easy for us. We know that this stance will be taken by the other side as a pretext to make it impossible for many West Berliners to visit their friends and relatives in the eastern sector."
The Ruling Mayor’s prediction turns out to be correct: until the first permit agreement is reached at the end of 1963, West Berliners are not able to see their friends and relatives or visit the eastern part of the city.
The "temporary" closure of the Brandenburg Gate is to last for 28 years, two months and 28 days.
