fILE ROOM COpy 10 DE 7o~ 3~ r- , ~ ~ "1- , a P . HBNT or STAT_ N-O- BONN s L NDON 9 PA IS u~ ffiE·R OR POL D, USC· N E' FOR P L D USNHR ,1'1 PE FOR tHJ N5, UciEL10 P\ S IL 0 FOR USR' 1 USBE Ber in 2" Jl1DP 1 Q ~r: r, R . c -,on '0 "ne. 15 ·1 a Ca Inc . , Be ·t .L -7 1 0 Depto, 1 G B n , I rvalso E <)1t; PaRe 2 . A- from B UND" of June 18 Do bl r. had be n a "p as ~ 9 1 it d 1962 1') "ND" ttl st B .. , 1 in ne o Commen A c rding 0 100 1 UaS e intellig nee informatio Doebl r had one +ime ~ en ·ct·ve in xfi_trat"on ~ 1vities from We t Ber1.ino The Sen t. in the public stat men to "Jhich "Non r fred and h·ch appeared in the W s il rlin press of J 17, firmed nly that Doeb er f1 d the GDR f~ the Wall w nt up~ th t his wife joined him ~n May b t retu ed in June 1962 to GDR nd b tr yed some e~f·l rator~ thereo For the Mini.ter:! I ./L-.( ~{.7: .... ,-. j \ Frano·s Jo Meeh n Chief~ \ E ate n~ffa1 , S ction \ \ Cle nee: IO/USCOU - Hajor S mach G Control: 21') PR I ORI Y Reed: l' JUNE 1 ' . ACT ON : M SECSTATE WASHD C . .5 H URS POL~3 TO RUFHOL/AMEMBASSY BO NN PRIORI Y 3825 INFO: MIN-":J I 0 RUFHJ IUSBER BERLI N PRI ORITY 'USCOB 51 TE GRNC EAS BT ECON CON F I D E NT . A L JUNE 18 USI S ASAG BERLIN'S' 1745 IO/U F&R UNE 15 SH OOTING INC DENT IN VIEW OMP N SAND S RENGTH OF VI WS EXPR SSED IN OUR LETTER TO ABRASIMOV S WE LL AS T 11E Y PR OTES us e MMA DANT, DEPT DIS NC INED ADD TO TH 1 BY FUR HE T T M NT I N ltl A HI NGTON HOULD BE CLEAR TO ALL CONer ED TH YOUR VIEWS SHARED Y us GOVT GP-4 <I RUSK ACTIO OOObU Foreign Service of the TELEGRAM United States of America OUT G 0 I N G us MISSION rum.IN FILE R~pM COpy 15/3 gk )'YL 37 -/2­ LIMITED OFFICIAL USE Charge: Classificatioll Control: ACTION: SecState WASH 17.31 PRIORITY Date: INFO: AmembasllY BONN 1r~ PRIORITY Amembassy LONDON 5r- Amembaasy MOSCOW ~, Amembassy PARIS f.22 USARRUR FOR POLAD USCINCEUR FOR POLAD USNMR SHAPE FOR BURNS USlllMLO USAf'E PARIS ALSO FOR USRO PlL.3 MIN3 SUBJECT: USCOI Murder of West Berliner in Teltow ~l EA Berlin's 1726 to Department ECON USIS Brutal murder of a West Berlin man by East German border guards 10 $h&c~ ASG in the Teltow Canal has .1II1I.I~West Berliners more than any border FI<R ouy incident recent years. Incident occurr1ng~ 48 hours before June 17 celebration of 1953 uprising in East Germany has heightened reaction. All morning papers June 16 gave story top play. drawing heavily on US Commandant's statement (reftel) and parallel statement made ~ Govern­ ing Mayor Brandt in specially-called press conference last night. In private talk with me. Brandt said that effect on west Berliners of Teltow wou).r4beQ ~ Canal shooting ~~"as deep as that caused by killing of Peter Fechter in Aug~st ~weve~t that the ~ent .a." 1962,With the significant d1fferenc~__.nCIIII circumstances did not raise the question~f an Allied failure to react while ~".'M""'~KMMKM~omething effective could still be done. Ambassador McGhee. who is in Berlin. is sending a strongly-worded letter to Abrasimov denouncing the shooting and calling upon Soviet LIMITED OFFICIAL WE REPRODUCTION flOM THIS COPY IS Classificatioll PROHIIITED IIUSS "llKWSJRED" OFFICIAL FILE COpy Foreign Service of the TELEGRAM United States of America OUTGOING LIMl'rED OFFICIAL USE Classificatioll Charge: Control: II 2 c to brint~r ~~IIa:'itl;i'il l t'6 ' j ui'ti't!e latta ' Date: o~g1~o ensure that such incidents will not be repeated. Text o( coverinw ~tatemewr and . / .lletter (reported separately) will be made public after protocol officer 12«.er. attempts to deliver ~ 'During his meeting with Abras1mov yesterday. Ambassador Seydoux raised matter of shooting. but Abrasimov claimed not to have been informed. ADN release issued shortly after incident and carried by Neues Deutsohland for June 16 claims boat had entered waters of the GDR and did not ohange course when warning shots were fired. According paper, Bast German guards then opened aimed fire in interests of border security of GDR. Aocount oloses with statement that border violation was Obviously carried out with provocative intent. and that West Berlin underground organizations have repeatedly tested the border security of the GDR in recent weeks. Further investigation of inoident indicates that the motor boat in whioh victims were riding may have teohnically violated the surveyed border between West Berlin and Soviet Zone. but that boat did not violate de facto border represented by East German barriers. The consensus 1s that boat _s in Bast German _ters when firing started but that firing. inoluding possibly the fatal shots. ~r'AUij c'Jntinued after boat had re-entered West Berlin. From bullet marks on the boat. there is little doubt that firing oontinued aftsr boat had turned toward the LIMl'rED CPFICIAL USE R£PROOUCTION FlOM THIS COPY IS Classiflcatioll PROHIIITED UfUSS "UNClASSIfIED" OFFICIAL FILE COpy Foreign Service of the T~LEGRAM United States of America OUTGOING LIMITID <PFICIAL USE Charge: Classificatioll Control: .. • - 3 - Date: West Berlin shore. It is not entirely olear where shots were fired from, but they apparently came from an Bast Oeraan guard tower about 100 yarde from the canal. An autonatio weapon _s used, probably with a mount of victims some sort, as suggested by the acouraoy of the firing. (Both lIiUI.,... were hit several times.) The dead nan, 42-year-old Hermann Doebler, had lived in West Berlin sinoe shortly before the _11 went up. Prior to that time he had worked in West Berlin but lived in the East. His wife, from whom he was reoently divorced, and three children renained in 'the East. The wounded girl is 22-year-old Elka Maertens. Her condition remains critical. west Berlin police have no significant additional information ooncerning couple. CALHOUN fj Al1l'H: ~ 16 JUNE 1230 POL:JLCarson/bg LIMITED OFFICIAL USE I£PROOUCTION 110M THIS COPY IS Clussi/i catioll PIOIIllmo IlUSS "WCI ASSiRED" OFFICIAL FILE COPY FILE ROO C Pr Foreign Service of the TELEGRAM United St~s of America OUTGOING US MISSION, BERLIN rO l- 2j - IZ/ CONFIDENTIAL Charge: Classificatio1l AM Control: 9' MIN 3 Date: usc() ACTION: SecState WASHINGTON PRIORITY 174 L 2 EAS2 INFO: Amembassy BONN 15'9 PRIORITY EC N Amembassy MOSCOW '55 It USIS Amembassy LONDON "2 .. ASAG Amembassy PARIS 727 " IO,IU USAREUR FOR POLAD It Fe 2 USCINCEUR FOR POLAD " PS USNMR SHAPE FOR BURNS .. USELMLO " PARIS ALSO FOR USRO SUBJ: Protest Letter to Abrasimov on Teltow Canal Shooting REF: Berlintel 1734 to Dept, 1564 to Bonn Mission protocol officer attempted to deliver Ambassador McGhee's protest letter on Teltow Canal incident (reftel) to Ambassador Abrasimov at 1415 hours local time June 16. Protocol officers of Soviet Embassy read letter and one of them made oral translation into Russian for benefit of the other. They then returned letter, stating they could not accept it since it concerned matter within competence of "German Democratic Republic." However, they promised to convey contents to Ambassador Abrasimov. .,. Ita! In answer to inquiries from press, Mission intends to state that Soviet Embassy returned letter but that we are satisfied CONFIDENTIAL REPRODUCTION FROM THIS COPY IS Classification PROHIBITED UNlESS ''UNClASSIFIED'' OFF'ICIAL FILE COPY Foreign Service of the TELEGRAM United States of America OUTGOING CONFIDENTIAL Charge: Classificatio1l Control: '9' -2­ Date: the message was adequately conveyed to Ambassador Abrasimov. GP-4. CALHOUN ~./L A. I AUTH:'t~~e~t; rv-­ CONFIDENTIAL REPRODUCTION FROM THIS COPY IS Classification PROHIBITED UNLESS "UNClASSIFIED" OFFICIAL FILE COpy 0009 Foreig TELEGRAM United 14/wdk O UTGOING CONFIDENTIAL Charge: Classilica tioll Control: .,. DIST: Date: 17 JUH 1"5 ACTION: SecState WASHINGTON IMMEDIATE 1745 131. H URS MIN.4 AMi INFO: Amembassy OONN 1574 usCO. SlTBJ: June 15 Shooting Incident r-2 EAS EOON FROM AMBASSADOR McGHEE USIS ASAG In the oourse of a meeting with the press in Berlin on June 16, IO/U F&cR I was asked if my letter to Abrasimov had been approved in Washington. I said I was sure that the views expressed in the letter were shared by those responsible in the Department. The June 15 incident has aroused very strong public iM1gnation in Berlin because of its unusually brutal nature• The fact that this particular incident coincided with the anniversary of the June 1953 uprising has also oaused broader repercussions than the normal run of Berlin shootings. As always" the U.S. offioial reactf. on 1s being carefully observed. In view of these considerations" I be~lVe that a useful purpose would be served by partment a statement from the WJrHwdlrMlH-!1or the Secretary which would join in forcefully oondemning the June 15 Shooting. ap-4 FMUr:z;, AUTH: F eh M:FJMeehan:lms 17 June 1016 CONFIDENTIAL REPRODUCTION fROM THIS COPY IS C Iassiii C (l t j 0 1l PROHIBITED UNLESS "UNCWSIFIED" OFFICIAL FILE COpy .