Victims of the Wall

All 140 people

Çetin Mert

1970–1975

Çetin Mert, a boy from Kreuzberg, drowned on his fifth birthday, 11 May 1975, after falling into the Spree from the Gröbenufer near the Oberbaum Bridge while reaching for his ball; the river there belonged to East Berlin.

Metal information board with German and English text, a black-and-white photograph of a young boy, and a map of the park
Information plaque at the Çetin-Mert-Park in Berlin-Kreuzberg, "Zum Gedenken an ein Kind aus Kreuzberg" Photo: Singlespeedfahrer, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Çetin Mert was born on 11 May 1970. His parents were Turkish, and he lived in Kreuzberg, in West Berlin, with them and his two brothers.

Sunday 11 May 1975 was his fifth birthday, and his parents planned a picnic in the countryside. While the family got ready, Çetin went out to play ball with neighbourhood children on the Gröbenufer; he had just been given new trainers for his birthday. The ball rolled down the bank into the Spree. He tried to reach it with a stick and fell into the water, which along this stretch belonged entirely to East Berlin.

West Berlin police and firemen were there within minutes, at about 12:30 p.m. Firemen searched along the bank with a rod, and a fire chief asked the East German authorities on the Oberbaum Bridge, without success, for permission to carry out a rescue. Passers-by called out to the border guards, but no one from the West dared enter the guarded water. An East German boat arrived only at about 1:10 p.m., and about an hour later border troop divers recovered Çetin's body just five metres from the western bank. Stasi files later showed that two border troop scouts had seen him fall in, and even photographed it, but had no way to report it until much later.

He was the fourth child in three years to drown while playing near the Oberbaum Bridge. Despite protests from his family and others gathered on the bank, his body was taken to the forensic institute of the Charité in East Berlin, and it was only days later that it was returned to his parents. In the days that followed there were repeated protests at the spot; about 2,000 members of West Berlin's Turkish community demonstrated. His memorial service in West Berlin became a mass demonstration.

As a first response, the West Berlin Senate had the four openings to the bank welded shut and a wire-mesh fence put up in front of the quay wall, together with large warning signs in German and Turkish, and East German border troops were secretly ordered to keep a boat stationed opposite the Gröbenufer from 8 a.m. until sundown. Talks on emergency help at the sector border, under way without result since June 1973, finally led to an agreement signed on 29 October 1975, and rescue poles were installed along the water border in spring 1976.

Çetin Mert was buried in Düzce, his parents' hometown. Since then, his family has held a religious ceremony in his memory every year on the day of his death.

Tall glass panel in a metal frame on a riverside path, listing names, dates and small photographs of victims
Glass memorial panel for the victims of the Berlin Wall on the May-Ayim-Ufer in Berlin-Kreuzberg; Çetin Mert is the last name listed Photo: OTFW, Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Black-and-white photograph of a large crowd gathered along a riverside wall and steps, some holding placards, with the television tower in the distance
Protest rally by Turkish-born West Berliners at the Gröbenufer (today May-Ayim-Ufer) after the death of five-year-old Çetin Mert Photo: Dieter Kramer, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Small urban park with a lawn, low stone steps, trees and a red metal frame, surrounded by apartment buildings
The Çetin-Mert-Park in Berlin-Kreuzberg, named after him Photo: Singlespeedfahrer, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Read more

Also died on the sector border between Berlin-Friedrichshain and Berlin-Kreuzberg

Sources

This profile is a summary written for this site. Every fact in it is taken from source 1, which also gives the full account with archival references.

  1. Martin Ahrends/Udo Baron/Hans-Hermann Hertle, “Çetin Mert”, biography in Chronik der Mauer, Federal Agency for Civic Education, Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam and Deutschlandradio. Accessed 23 September 2026. Read online. Basis for every fact in this profile, including the dates and place of death.
  2. German version of the same biography. Accessed 23 September 2026. Read online.
  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. The printed handbook from which the online biography is taken.
  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. PDF. Used to cross-check names and dates.
  5. Hans-Hermann Hertle and Maria Nooke, “The Victims at the Berlin Wall, 1961–1989: Findings of a Research Project”, August 2017. PDF. Source of the classification into escapees, people with no intent to escape, and border soldiers.

Further reading

Image credits

  • Information plaque at the Çetin-Mert-Park in Berlin-Kreuzberg, "Zum Gedenken an ein Kind aus Kreuzberg". Singlespeedfahrer, CC0, Wikimedia Commons.
  • Glass memorial panel for the victims of the Berlin Wall on the May-Ayim-Ufer in Berlin-Kreuzberg; Çetin Mert is the last name listed. OTFW, Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.
  • Protest rally by Turkish-born West Berliners at the Gröbenufer (today May-Ayim-Ufer) after the death of five-year-old Çetin Mert. Dieter Kramer, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
  • The Çetin-Mert-Park in Berlin-Kreuzberg, named after him. Singlespeedfahrer, CC0, Wikimedia Commons.

Cite this page

“Çetin Mert”, Victims of the Berlin Wall, Berlin Experiences. https://victimsofthewall.com/victims/mert-cetin/

Map

The pin position is based on the place of death described in source 1. Base map © OpenStreetMap contributors; course of the Wall in 1989 from Geoportal Berlin (dl-de/zero-2.0). Accessed 23 September 2026.