Andreas Senk

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Andreas Senk (* 1960 ; † September 13, 1966 in Berlin ) drowned playing in the Spree and is counted among the fatalities at the Berlin Wall .

Life

Memorial plaque on May-Ayim-Ufer, in Berlin-Kreuzberg

Andreas Senk grew up as the only child of his mother's in West Berlin . On the morning of September 13, 1966, he played on the Gröbenufer on the Spree. He was pushed into the water by another child between 10 a.m. and 12 noon. At this point the Spree belonged entirely to East Berlin and was monitored by the GDR border troops . Nevertheless, Andreas Senk was not discovered by the border guards on the watch towers and patrol boats. The West Berlin fire brigade came to the scene of the accident around 2 p.m. and searched the water with long poles. The firefighters were not allowed to go into the water. Around 2:30 p.m. they found Andreas Senk and took him to the Bethanien Hospital , where his death was determined.

The next day the media reported the incident. There were various allegations against the border guards of the GDR from West Berlin. Among other things, they were accused of actively obstructing aid. These allegations could not be substantiated. There is no entry in the records of the border guards mentioning a child who fell into the water. Only the rescue operation by the fire brigade two hours after the incident is recorded. According to West Berlin firefighters, the GDR border guards monitored their search from a boat that was about 30 meters from the western bank. For Andreas Senk to be rescued, help should have been given eight minutes after the incident at the latest.

In order to make his view that Senk was a victim of the German-German border understandable, Martin Ahrends asked the rhetorical question: "Is Andreas Senk a victim of the Berlin Wall?" To justify his affirmative answer, he cited:

“The fact that the fire brigade was alerted so late had no political reasons. Only within a maximum of eight minutes after his fall from west to east would there have been a chance of rescuing Andreas Senk. But the chance was particularly slim at this point, and there were definitely political reasons for that. “There is a shortage of passers-by on the Berlin death strip who could quickly become rescuers,” writes a [contemporary newspaper] commentator. "And if they had been there, wouldn't they have to expect to be shot while jumping into East Berlin waters?"

According to Ahrends, Senk is considered to be an (indirect) victim of the Berlin Wall insofar as he was not brought to death directly by the Wall or the border installations (the border guards did not cause his accident, did not refuse to help him and did not prevent anyone from helping) However, the existence of the wall was most likely responsible for the fact that his accident remained undetected and thus ended fatally.

Andreas Senk was one of at least five children (along with Cengaver Katrancı , Siegfried Kroboth , Giuseppe Savoca and Çetin Mert ) who fell into the water on the Gröbenufer during the division of Germany and drowned.

literature

Web links

Commons : Andreas Senk  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Portrait of Andreas Senk at chronik-der-mauer.de
personal data
SURNAME Senk, Andreas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German casualty from the Berlin Wall
DATE OF BIRTH 1960
DATE OF DEATH September 13, 1966
Place of death Berlin