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RESEARCHED WALL RECORD

Wall memorial at the Steinerne Brücke, Schönwalde-Glien

Schönwalde-Glien, Germany

52.596° N / 13.154° E
This record was researched and written for this atlas rather than taken from a source inventory, which is why it carries no listing reference. Every claim on it rests on the sources below. Nobody has confirmed it in person, so current condition and access may have changed. How the catalogue is built ↗
MemorialReportedOutdoor
Original abstract illustration. A licensed documentary photograph has not been added.

The record

Two original segments set to look as if they are toppling, on the Spandau boundary where a refugee and a border guard were killed.

Two original segments stand at the Steinerne Brücke, on the road between Spandau and Schönwalde-Glien, set at an angle so that they seem to be falling over — the opening of the border shown as the moment of collapse. The memorial was unveiled on 13 August 2007, the anniversary of the day the border was closed, and information boards followed a year later.

It names two people who died on this stretch. Dietmar Schwietzer, from Magdeburg, ran for the border wall early on 16 February 1977 and was fired on from two watchtowers. Ulrich Steinhauer was a GDR border soldier, shot in the back on 4 November 1980 by a fellow soldier who was escaping. A memorial that lists a refugee and a guard side by side is making a deliberate argument about who the border killed.

A commemoration is held here every 13 August. The Berlin Wall Foundation, whose project the information boards were, lists the installation in its directory of surviving traces as MAU-735.

How did it get here?

Two original segments installed at the Steinerne Brücke and unveiled on 13 August 2007.

Sources & verification

Mauerdenkmal an der „Steinernen Brücke“ — Orte des Erinnerns ↗
Two original segments installed at the Steinerne Brücke between Spandau and Schönwalde-Glien so that they appear to tip over, symbolising the opening of the border; unveiled on 13 August 2007, with boards added on 13 August 2008; commemorating Dietmar Schwietzer, shot on 16 February 1977 from two watchtowers, and the border soldier Ulrich Steinhauer, shot in the back by a fleeing colleague on 4 November 1980; a project of the Stiftung Berliner Mauer.
Source accessed 2026-09-17

Schönwalde-Glien: Gedenkveranstaltung an den Bau der Berliner Mauer vor 61 Jahren — Unser Havelland ↗
The annual commemoration of the building of the Wall held at the Steinerne Brücke on 13 August.
Source accessed 2026-09-17

MAU-735 Mauerdenkmal Schönwalde-Glien — MAUERSPUREN, Stiftung Berliner Mauer ↗
Two wall elements forming part of the memorial installation on the Berliner Allee in Schönwalde, catalogued as MAU-735.
Source accessed 2026-09-17

Last verified: Not yet verified

Our sourcing standards

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On the map

Source-reported position. This marker may identify a general area; it is not confirmed visitor guidance.