Erna Kelm

Erna Kelm (July 21, 1908 – June 11, 1962) was a German woman who became the twenty-third known person to die at the Berlin Wall. Kelm tried to cross the border by swimming across the Havel river, but drowned during the attempt. Kelm was one of only eight women victims, and at the age of 53, was one of the oldest victims of the Berlin Wall.

Biography Erna Kelm was born on July 21, 1908, in Frankfurt an der Oder, German Empire. Kelm had at least two children and lived in Potsdam, but in 1947, shortly after the end of World War II, she illegally moved to Lübeck to work as a nurse. At the time Germany was occupied by the Allies, with Potsdam in the Soviet zone and Lübeck in the British Zone, Kelm moved without obtaining the necessary permit issued by the occupying powers. In 1948, a year later, she moved to West Berlin, taking a job as a nurse's aide in a children's home for refugees. Kelm frequently left West Berlin to visit her children in neighboring Potsdam, where she was "suspected of engaging in intelligence activities," according to Soviet police data, but this accusation remained unconfirmed. However, the suspicion led to her being interrogated by East German authorities in November 1953, and a hearing in December 1953, after which she moved back to Potsdam. In her own words, Kelm returned because she missed her children, and began working as the director of a special care home/facility.

Death On the morning of June 11, 1962, a fisherman found Kelm's body in the River Havel in Berlin-Zehlendorf, West Berlin. Her East German identification card, hidden in her sock, identified her as Erna Kelm from Sacrow, 53 years old, born on July 21, 1908, in Frankfurt an der Oder. Evidence suggested that she had tried to swim across the Havel to West Berlin, as the middle of the river formed the local border between East Germany and West Berlin. Berlin-Zehlendorf and Sacrow, an area of Potsdam just north of the main town where Kelm had lived, were both sparsely populated with minimal presence of the Berlin Wall and the East German border guards. Kelm was carrying other personal documents in a waterproof plastic bag on her body, and was also wearing a life jacket under her clothes. The investigation by the West Berlin police ended with the result that Erna Kelm drowned while trying to escape, and no crime was committed against her. Kelm's body was handed over to her relatives in Potsdam at their request. has existed since at least 2007, according to the Internet Archive. However, her photo, listed as from a private collection, has only been added recently (as of 2014).