Extrajudicial killings at the Berlin Wall (1961-89)

“To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.” - Elie Wiesel, Night

Conrad Schumann defects to West Berlin, 1961 others were not so lucky.

On the 30th anniversary of the Berlin Wall being torn down, we remember those who were murdered trying to escape to freedom over it. At least 140 were killed. The East German communist dictatorship had shoot to kill orders for those trying to cross the Berlin Wall. A copy of an Order to Border Guards dated October 1, 1973 was discovered that is both clear and chilling.

"It is your duty to use your combat … skills in such a way as to overcome the cunning of the border breacher, to challenge or liquidate him in order to thwart the planned border breach... Don’t hesitate to use your weapon even when border breaches happen with women and children, which traitors have often exploited in the past.” 

Let us never forget the victims.

Ida, Siekmann (1961)

1961
Siekmann, Ida
Litfin, Günter
Hoff, Roland
Urban, Rudolf
Segler, Olga
Lünser, Bernd
Düllick, Udo
Probst, Werner
Lehmann, Lothar
Wohlfahrt, Dieter
Krüger, Ingo
Feldhahn, Georg

Peter Fechter (1962) 

1962
Schmiel, Dorit
Jercha, Heinz
Held, Philipp
Schmidtchen, Jörgen (Border Guard)
Böhme, Peter
Brueske, Klaus
Frank, Horst
Göring, Peter (Border Guard)
Haberlandt, Lutz
Hannemann, Axel
Glöde, Wolfgang
Kelm, Erna
Huhn, Reinhold (Border Guard)
Noffke, Siegfried
Fechter, Peter
Wesa, Hans-Dieter
Mundt, Ernst
Seling, Günter (Border Guard)
Walzer, Anton
Plischke, Horst
Reck, Ottfried
Wiedenhöft, Günter




1963
Räwel, Hans
Kutscher, Horst
Kreitlow, Peter
Muszynski, Wolf-Olaf
Mädler, Peter
Widera, Siegfried (Border Guard)
Schröter, Klaus
Schulz, Dietmar
Berger, Dieter
Schultz, Paul

1964
Hayn, Walter
Philipp, Adolf
Heike, Walter
Gneiser, Rainer
Wolscht, Norbert
Trabant, Hildegard
Mispelhorn, Wernhard
Schultz, Egon (Border Guard)
Wolf, Hans-Joachim
Mehr, Joachim




1965
Unknown (N.N.)
Buttkus, Christian
Krzemien, Ulrich
Hauptmann, Hans-Peter
Döbler, Hermann
Kratzel, Klaus
Garten, Klaus
Kittel, Walter
Cyrius, Heinz
Sokolowski, Heinz
Kühn, Erich
Schöneberger, Heinz

1966
Brandes, Dieter
Block, Willi
Schleusener, Lothar
Hartmann, Jörg
Marzahn, Willi
Schulze, Eberhard
Kollender, Michael
Stretz, Paul
Wroblewski, Eduard
Schmidt, Heinz
Senk, Andreas
Kube, Karl-Heinz





1967
Sahmland, Max Willi
Piesik, Franciszek

1968
Weckeiser, Elke
Weckeiser, Dieter
Mende, Herbert
Lehmann, Bernd
Krug, Siegfried
Körner, Horst
Henninger, Rolf (Border Guard)


1969
Lange, Johannes
Kluge, Klaus-Jürgen
Lis, Leo

1970
Wehhage, Eckhardt
Wehhage, Christel
Müller, Heinz
Born, Willi
Ehrlich, Friedhelm
Thiem, Gerald
Kliem, Helmut
Friese, Christian-Peter

1971
Kabelitz, Rolf-Dieter
Hoffmann, Wolfgang
Kühl, Werner
Beilig, Dieter

1972
Kullack, Horst
Weylandt, Manfred
Schulze, Klaus
Katranci, Cengaver

1973
H., Holger
Frommann, Volker
Einsiedel, Horst
Gertzki, Manfred
Krobot, Siegfried



1974
Niering, Burkhard
Sprenger, Johannes
Savoca, Guiseppe

1975
Halli, Herbert
Mert, Cetin
Kiebler, Herbert
Hennig, Lothar

1976
n/a

1977
Schwietzer, Dietmar
Weise, Henri

1978 and 1979
n/a

1980
Steinhauer, Ulrich (Border Guard)
Jirkowski, Marinetta

1981
Muschol, Dr. Johannes
Starrost, Hans-Jürgen
Taubmann, Thomas



1982
Freie, Lothar Fritz

1983
Proksch, Silvio

1984
Schmidt, Michael-Horst

1985
n/a


1986
Liebeke, Rainer
Groß, René
Mäder, Manfred
Bittner, Michael

1987
Schmidt, Lutz

1988
n/a

Chris Gueffroy (1989)

1989
Diederichs, Ingolf
Freudenberg, Winfried
Gueffroy, Chris