The Berlin Wall had been in existence for 11 days and Günter Litfin was 24 years old when a hailstorm of bullets ripped through his body as he tried to swim to freedom across a 40m-wide canal. On 24 August 1961, a Sunday, the skilled tailor became the first victim of the GDR’s shoot-to-kill policy. Jürgen Litfin learned about his older brother’s death later that day – on TV. Since 2003 he has kept Günter’s legacy alive in an authentic GDR watchtower. Come to peruse the modest exhibit but mainly to meet this outspoken eyewitness to history.
