# Werner Kühl (1949–1971)

> Werner Kühl, a 22-year-old garden labourer from West Berlin, was shot dead in the border strip on 24 July 1971 after he and his friend Bernd Langer, who was wounded, had climbed the border fence from Neukölln to reach East Berlin.

- Born: 10 February 1949
- Died: 24 July 1971
- Age at death: 22
- Cause of death: Shot
- Circumstances: Killed with no intention to escape
- Place and circumstances as recorded: Near the bridge at Britzer Allee/Baumschulenweg; On the sector border between Berlin-Neukölln and Berlin-Treptow
- Map position (approximate): 52.45905, 13.47202
- Area: inner-city border between East and West Berlin
- Web page: https://victimsofthewall.com/victims/kuehl-werner/

## Story

Werner Kühl was born in West Berlin on 10 February 1949. He left school in 1963 and worked as a garden labourer for various firms. His parents lived apart; he was registered at his father's address, while his mother looked after him. His life was unsettled, with repeated spells without work or a home.

In 1968–69, in a youth welfare hostel, he met Bernd Langer, a young man of the same age who had grown up in East Berlin with his grandmother and moved west to his father in 1966, but longed to go back. Bernd had suffered lasting health problems since a motorcycle accident in childhood. In July 1971 the two found a few days' work as transport workers, lived together in a guesthouse, and often talked of moving to East Germany, where they believed life could be better for them.

On Saturday 24 July 1971, a warm day, they took the S-Bahn to Neukölln with their luggage and walked to the Britzer Zweigkanal, where there was a bathing spot. There Werner proposed, perhaps on the spur of the moment, that they cross the border strip into East Berlin. Bernd objected that it was too dangerous and pointed out they could simply use a crossing point, but let himself be persuaded. They waited by the fence until dark and at around half past ten at night climbed over it, leaving most of their bags behind.

A man in a nearby allotment reported them to a watchtower. Taking them for East Germans trying to flee, the guards opened fire. Bernd Langer was wounded several times. Werner Kühl reached a border gate on the eastern side unhurt but could not open it; as he ran back, a bullet passed through his shoulder and chest and he collapsed at the anti-vehicle trench. His friend crawled to him, called to him and lay down beside him. Werner Kühl bled to death within minutes.

The shooting came during delicate negotiations over Berlin, and both sides used it. Without investigating, the West Berlin police released eyewitness observations to the press, and western media first reported a failed escape by three East Germans stopped by gunfire; East Berlin claimed that two West Berliners had committed a serious border provocation and had been injured, without mentioning a death. Only ten days later did East Germany admit that Werner Kühl had been killed, and the West Berlin police withdrew their account. The Stasi considered inventing evidence against him and, in agreement with the East German prosecutor-general's office, decided to have his body cremated, in its own words to prevent it being misused for political demonstrations in West Berlin.

Bernd Langer was released on 30 August 1971 and handed over to the West Berlin police, together with the urn containing Werner Kühl's ashes. A false death certificate gave the date of death as 26 July 1971. His family buried him in the St. Johannes Cemetery am Nordufer in Berlin-Wedding. The guards had been decorated; in May 2000 one of them was convicted of manslaughter as a co-perpetrator and given a youth sentence of a year and two months, suspended on probation, the other having died.

## Sources

1. Martin Ahrends/Udo Baron/Hans-Hermann Hertle, “Werner Kühl”, 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/180570/kuehl-werner
2. German version of the same biography. Accessed 23 September 2026. https://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/todesopfer/171351/kuehl-werner
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: “Werner Kühl”, Victims of the Berlin Wall, Berlin Experiences. https://victimsofthewall.com/victims/kuehl-werner/