# Ingo Krüger (1940–1961)

> Ingo Krüger, a 21-year-old cook from East Berlin separated from his fiancée by the Wall, died in the Spree near the Marschall Bridge on the night of 10 to 11 December 1961 while trying to dive across to West Berlin.

- Born: 31 January 1940
- Died: 11 December 1961
- Age at death: 21
- Cause of death: Drowned
- Circumstances: Died trying to escape
- Place and circumstances as recorded: In the Spree River near the Marschall Bridge; At the sector border between Berlin-Mitte and Berlin-Tiergarten
- Map position (approximate): 52.51923, 13.38023
- Area: inner-city border between East and West Berlin
- Web page: https://victimsofthewall.com/victims/krueger-ingo/

## Story

Ingo Krüger was born in Berlin-Dahlem on 31 January 1940. His father died as a soldier in the Second World War, and when his mother remarried the family moved to the east of the city. He grew up in Niederschöneweide in Treptow. After school he trained as a cook and then worked for the state company that catered for the East German government's guest houses.

His fiancée Ingrid had been at school with him in Johannisthal. They began going out in 1958, although she and her mother had moved to West Berlin, and colleagues who informed for the Stasi recorded his contacts with the West. On Saturday 12 August 1961 the couple spent the day with friends in East Berlin and then stayed the night at her flat in the West; early the next morning, unaware of what was happening at the border, he drove back east for his Sunday shift. From then on they were divided.

At first they met at quiet spots on the edge of the city, passing letters and gifts across the barbed wire, but these meetings grew harder to arrange, and during one attempt to make contact he was briefly detained and warned to keep away from the border. Ingrid then registered her address with relatives in West Germany, which allowed her to visit him in East Berlin. When it became clear that the border would stay closed, Ingo, a sport diver, began in early November to plan an escape underwater, across the Spree towards the Reichstag. Stasi observers were watching him closely.

At around 11 p.m. on 10 December 1961 he took a taxi with two friends to the Spree at Schiffbauerdamm, wearing his diving suit under his coat. A woman friend who kept watch on boat traffic on the Spree advised him to enter the water beneath Friedrichstrasse station, out of sight of the East German customs boats. He put on his breathing apparatus and went in. His friends soon realised something had gone wrong. On the West Berlin bank Ingrid watched East German customs officers in a boat search the water with hooks and spotlights and finally pull a body out; despite the poor visibility, she had no doubt that it was him.

Border police reports say the 21-year-old was already dead when he was recovered near the Marschall Bridge, which would place his death on 10 December; the forensic institute recorded 12.10 a.m. on 11 December. The autopsy gave the cause as presumably drowning. Stasi investigations are said to have blamed a failed breathing apparatus, while investigations in the 1990s concluded that he died of cold shock. Theories of a violent death could not be confirmed.

The authorities told his parents and colleagues that his fiancée and friends were to blame. One friend was arrested for helping him, and another was blackmailed into working with the Stasi. He was buried on 23 December in the cemetery on Baumschulenweg in East Berlin, while Ingrid still did not know what had become of him. Her letters to his mother went unanswered for weeks, and she learned the truth only in January. A photograph from 2005 shows a memorial cross for him at Checkpoint Charlie.

## Sources

1. Christine Brecht, “Ingo Krüger”, biography in Chronik der Mauer, Federal Agency for Civic Education, Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam and Deutschlandradio. Accessed 23 September 2026. https://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/en/victims/180489/krueger-ingo
2. German version of the same biography. Accessed 23 September 2026. https://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/todesopfer/171447/krueger-ingo
3. Hans-Hermann Hertle and Maria Nooke (eds.), The Victims at the Berlin Wall, 1961–1989: A Biographical Handbook. Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam and Berlin Wall Foundation, Berlin 2011.
4. Hans-Hermann Hertle and Maria Nooke, “140 Victims at the Berlin Wall, 1961–1989” (list), Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam and Berlin Wall Foundation, August 2017. https://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/system/files/dokument_pdf/2017_08_08_140%20Victims_at_the_Wall_List_Internet_engl_FINAL.pdf
5. Hans-Hermann Hertle and Maria Nooke, “The Victims at the Berlin Wall, 1961–1989: Findings of a Research Project”, August 2017. https://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/system/files/dokument_pdf/2017_08_08_Hertle_Nooke_140_Victims_Berlin_Wall_FINAL_0.pdf

This profile is a summary written for this site; every fact in it is taken from source 1.

Cite as: “Ingo Krüger”, Victims of the Berlin Wall, Berlin Experiences. https://victimsofthewall.com/victims/krueger-ingo/