One of the youngest Deaths at the Berlin Wall.
September 13, 1966 was a hazy late summer day. That morning between 10 and 12 o’clock, six year-old Andreas Senk was pushed into the Spree by a playmate of the same age who, shocked by his own actions, ran away. When the six-year-old – the only son of his 25-year-old mother Renate Senk – fell into the water at this spot, he fell from the west side of the city to the east side since the entire width of the Spree here belonged to the Soviet sector. The East regarded the border here to be an official state border and kept it heavily guarded, although the guards here focused their attention primarily on the east side. Either the guards posted on the Oberbaum Bridge watchtower about 200 meters away did not notice the incident, or they did not consider it a serious “border violation.” The same was true of the East German border boats that were patrolling along the middle of the river, approximately 80 meters from the western riverbank. For hours no effort was made to save or retrieve Andreas Senk from the water.
The East German border boat did not register the presence of four West Berlin fire trucks until 2 p.m.: “Firemen on the western bank began searching the Spree with long poles. At 2:30 p.m. a child, approximately 5 years old, was pulled out of the water and quickly transported into the western hinterland. Afterwards all the forces withdrew to the western hinterland without further action.” Andreas Senk was brought to the Bethanien Hospital where he was declared dead.
(http://www.berliner-mauer-gedenkstaette.de/en/1966-314,399,2.html)
September 13, 1966 was a hazy late summer day. That morning between 10 and 12 o’clock, six year-old Andreas Senk was pushed into the Spree by a playmate of the same age who, shocked by his own actions, ran away. When the six-year-old – the only son of his 25-year-old mother Renate Senk – fell into the water at this spot, he fell from the west side of the city to the east side since the entire width of the Spree here belonged to the Soviet sector. The East regarded the border here to be an official state border and kept it heavily guarded, although the guards here focused their attention primarily on the east side. Either the guards posted on the Oberbaum Bridge watchtower about 200 meters away did not notice the incident, or they did not consider it a serious “border violation.” The same was true of the East German border boats that were patrolling along the middle of the river, approximately 80 meters from the western riverbank. For hours no effort was made to save or retrieve Andreas Senk from the water.
The East German border boat did not register the presence of four West Berlin fire trucks until 2 p.m.: “Firemen on the western bank began searching the Spree with long poles. At 2:30 p.m. a child, approximately 5 years old, was pulled out of the water and quickly transported into the western hinterland. Afterwards all the forces withdrew to the western hinterland without further action.” Andreas Senk was brought to the Bethanien Hospital where he was declared dead.
(http://www.berliner-mauer-gedenkstaette.de/en/1966-314,399,2.html)
One of the youngest Deaths at the Berlin Wall.
September 13, 1966 was a hazy late summer day. That morning between 10 and 12 o’clock, six year-old Andreas Senk was pushed into the Spree by a playmate of the same age who, shocked by his own actions, ran away. When the six-year-old – the only son of his 25-year-old mother Renate Senk – fell into the water at this spot, he fell from the west side of the city to the east side since the entire width of the Spree here belonged to the Soviet sector. The East regarded the border here to be an official state border and kept it heavily guarded, although the guards here focused their attention primarily on the east side. Either the guards posted on the Oberbaum Bridge watchtower about 200 meters away did not notice the incident, or they did not consider it a serious “border violation.” The same was true of the East German border boats that were patrolling along the middle of the river, approximately 80 meters from the western riverbank. For hours no effort was made to save or retrieve Andreas Senk from the water.
The East German border boat did not register the presence of four West Berlin fire trucks until 2 p.m.: “Firemen on the western bank began searching the Spree with long poles. At 2:30 p.m. a child, approximately 5 years old, was pulled out of the water and quickly transported into the western hinterland. Afterwards all the forces withdrew to the western hinterland without further action.” Andreas Senk was brought to the Bethanien Hospital where he was declared dead.
(http://www.berliner-mauer-gedenkstaette.de/en/1966-314,399,2.html)
September 13, 1966 was a hazy late summer day. That morning between 10 and 12 o’clock, six year-old Andreas Senk was pushed into the Spree by a playmate of the same age who, shocked by his own actions, ran away. When the six-year-old – the only son of his 25-year-old mother Renate Senk – fell into the water at this spot, he fell from the west side of the city to the east side since the entire width of the Spree here belonged to the Soviet sector. The East regarded the border here to be an official state border and kept it heavily guarded, although the guards here focused their attention primarily on the east side. Either the guards posted on the Oberbaum Bridge watchtower about 200 meters away did not notice the incident, or they did not consider it a serious “border violation.” The same was true of the East German border boats that were patrolling along the middle of the river, approximately 80 meters from the western riverbank. For hours no effort was made to save or retrieve Andreas Senk from the water.
The East German border boat did not register the presence of four West Berlin fire trucks until 2 p.m.: “Firemen on the western bank began searching the Spree with long poles. At 2:30 p.m. a child, approximately 5 years old, was pulled out of the water and quickly transported into the western hinterland. Afterwards all the forces withdrew to the western hinterland without further action.” Andreas Senk was brought to the Bethanien Hospital where he was declared dead.
(http://www.berliner-mauer-gedenkstaette.de/en/1966-314,399,2.html)
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