On 17 August 1962 a deadly confrontation occurred at the Berlin Wall when East German border guards opened fire on people attempting to cross from East Berlin into West Berlin. The incident took place during a period of intensified border enforcement after the Wall’s construction began in August 1961 and reflects the lethal risks faced by those attempting to flee the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Background By mid-1962 the Berlin Wall had been in place for one year. What began as barbed wire and barricades in August 1961 had rapidly become a complex system of concrete barriers, anti-vehicle obstacles, guard towers, patrol roads and a heavily armed border force. The GDR authorities framed the Wall as a measure to prevent “fascist infiltration” and to stabilize the socialist state; West Berlin and the Federal Republic of Germany called it an illegal barrier that trapped citizens in the East. Attempts to cross the border continued despite ever-tighter controls and the risk of lethal force. The incident Contemporary reports and later historical accounts indicate that on 17 August 1962 a group of people tried to cross a sector of the Wall. East German border troops encountered the escape attempt and opened fire. Some escapees were hit; at least one person died and others were wounded. West Berlin authorities and Western media reported the shooting and protested; the GDR maintained that its guards acted to prevent illegal crossing and to protect state security. Details such as the exact number of people involved and the sequence of events vary between sources, reflecting the contested information environment of Cold War Berlin and the GDR’s control over internal records and public statements. Aftermath and significance The shooting contributed to mounting public outrage in the West and reinforced perceptions of the Wall as a site of state violence against civilians. Incidents like this were used by Western governments and press to criticize the GDR and to highlight the human cost of the division of Germany. For East Germans, the risk of death or injury at the border underscored the severity of travel restrictions and the lengths to which some people would go to seek freedom in the West. Historical context and sources Exact details about many individual escape attempts are sometimes difficult to verify because GDR authorities restricted access to information and often suppressed internal records. Western reports from the time, later archival research, and survivor testimonies together provide the basis for historical understanding, though discrepancies remain about numbers and specific circumstances in many cases. Historians reconstruct such events from a combination of contemporary news coverage from West Berlin and Western capitals, GDR and West German government documents released after German reunification, and interviews with witnesses and border personnel. Legacy The deaths and injuries at the Berlin Wall became a potent symbol in Cold War memory of the division between East and West. Commemorations and memorial projects after German reunification have recorded and remembered those who were killed or injured while trying to cross the border. The incident of 17 August 1962 is one of several documented episodes that illustrate the lethal enforcement of GDR border policy and the human consequences of Germany’s division.