Chris Gueffroy Gedenkzeichen

A simple cross and information panel mark the spot at the Britzer Zweigkanal where 20-year-old Chris Gueffroy was shot on 5 February 1989 – the last person killed by gunfire while trying to cross the Berlin Wall. His death, just nine months before the wall fell, provoked international outrage and became a symbol of the wall’s senseless cruelty.

Chris Gueffroy was just 20 years old when he and his friend Christian Gaudian attempted to cross the border at the Britzer Zweigkanal in Treptow on the night of 5 February 1989. Acting on a false rumour that the shoot-to-kill order had been rescinded, the two young men tried to climb the final fence of the border fortifications. Border guards opened fire with automatic weapons. Gueffroy was hit in the chest and died at the scene; Gaudian was wounded and captured.

Gueffroy’s death, coming just nine months before the wall fell, provoked international condemnation and intensified pressure on the East German government. He was the last person killed by gunfire while trying to cross the Berlin Wall. After reunification, four of the border guards involved were tried and convicted; two received suspended sentences for manslaughter.

The memorial at the Britzer Zweigkanal consists of a simple cross and information panel. It stands in a quiet, suburban spot far from the tourist-heavy central sites, which makes it all the more affecting – a reminder that the wall’s violence extended across the entire length of the border, not just at the famous crossings.

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