The Soviet Union and
the communist satellite nations it subsequently developed within it's sphere of
influence often went to extensive measures to make it appear that they operated
and functioned to the best interests of its people. Outwardly, they embraced
the ideals of freedom from oppression and equality amongst all collectively
sharing everything and making great advancements in the achievements of
mankind. Large emaculate festivals were frequently held and the ideas of labor
highly regarded as essential to the success of the state. However, behind this
facade of loving united fronts and value for human life was often a sinister
truth. Desent and criticism of the state was an intolerable notion. Those who
criticized the communist government or expressed ideals that were not
compatible with those of the state risked imprisonment or certain death.
Imagine living in a virtual prison state where the government dictated what you
could do, when you could do it, how to do it and while declaring that you have
'rights' as a citizen of that nation, your rights are slim if any. Television,
radio and all other media outlets are closely controlled by the state and to
make matters worst, you can't even feel safe to express your true thoughts or
feelings in your own home for fear you may be overheard and members of the
secret police may show up in the middle of the night to arrest you. Wouldn't
you begin thinking of ways to escape? Many would attempt to flee their prison
nation; some would succeed and others would not.
On 13 August 1961,
the East German government deployed soldiers of the Nationale Volksarmee and
teams of construction workers to positions along the border of Allied
controlled West Berlin and construction began on the Berlin Wall. The first
concrete blocks would be put into place on 17 August 1961. With the Wall now
turning West Berlin into an exclave deep in the heart of East Germany, it
became much harder for persons wishing to leave the German Democratic Republic
from doing so. No one could leave the communist nation without expressed
permission from the government and all attempts to do so without authorization
were met with armed resistance ordered to shoot anyone trying to leave without
permission. The Schießbefehl or 'Shooting Order' became official policy on 22
August 1961, and the first person to be gunned down attempting to escape the
repressive regime of East Germany would be twenty four year old Günter Litfin,
a tailor who while attempting to escape by swimming across the Spree Canal was
shot and mortally wounded by officers of the East German Transportpolizei.
Litfin, would be the second confirmed casualty tied to the Berlin Wall, but he
would be the first to die by being shot. Sadly, he would not be the last. After
a tumultuous several months early on, life with the Wall began to normalize
however escape attempts still became common place.
By the onset of 1962,
the Wall and the defensive network that were associated with it had been vastly
improved creating new challenges for those that wished to escape. By August of
1962, one young East German named Peter Fechter had like so many others decided
that enough was enough and now he would take on the risks associated with
crossing the Berlin Wall to seek better opportunities in West Germany. Peter Fechtner
was 18 years old when he decided he would defect along with his close friend
Helmut Kulbeik. The two young men developed a daring plan to first hide in a
carpenter's workshop located close to the section of the Wall on Zimmerstrasse.
They would then watch the Grenztruppen guards closely and after it was clear to
do so, they would jump from a window over the initial barricade into the area
known as the "death-strip", a strip of cleared area running between
the main Wall and a parallel fence which was heavily patrolled by border guards
and sentry dogs. Upon entry into the death strip they would attempt to run
across it and climb over the 6.5 foot Wall which was topped with barbed wire
and then fall into the safety of the Kreuzberg district of West Berlin not far
from Checkpoint Charlie.
The date of execution
of their plan would come on 17 August 1962. Initially everything went as planned,
they hid in the carpentry workshop and dropped into the death strip sprinting
across and reaching for the Wall itself. As they began to climb the concrete
wall section, they were spotted by members of the East German Grenztruppen who
began firing their weapons at the would be defectors. Fechter's friend Helmut
Kulbeik managed to get over the wall, but Fechter still clinging on to the wall
trying to pull himself up and over was struck in the pelvis by rounds from the
East German rifles. On the West German side of the Wall, a large group of
onlookers had gathered to watch the escape attempt and the wounding of Fechter
was witnessed by hundreds of Western onlookers. Wounded, Fechter could not
maintain his strength and fell back into the death strip on the Eastern side of
the Wall but remained in plain sight of the horrified Westerners. Several
people in the gathering crowd turned out to be western journalists who now had
witnessed first handed how East Germany dealt with people it deemed as
traitors.
Fechter lay in the
death strip screaming for help, screaming in pain but his cries went unnheeded.
The East German government issued orders not to provide medical assistance for
persons wounded in escape attempts and to add to this, East German border
troops were afraid of being fired at by West German policemen stemming from an
incident several days earlier. Furthermore western citizens did not react to
Fechter's cries for help out of fear of being fired upon by the East German
border troops. All in all Fechter had no real chance of survival, the impact of
the high caliber rifle round into his right hip had caused severe internal
injuries and he was losing blood rapidly. He would lay in the death strip for
one hour before he succumbed to his injury, bleeding to death before a shocked
western audience. When his cries ceased, it was only an hour later still, that
East German border troops and policemen finally entered the death strip and
retrieved his body.
The subsequent
stories regarding the shooting of Fechter enraged the West German government
and brought a wave of negative publicity to the East German regime. Hundreds of
people in West Berlin organized demonstrations against the German Democratic
Republic, shouting "Mörder!" or Murderers! at the East German
Grenztruppen border guards. As a direct result of the Fechter murder and the
following backlash, the East German government revised its orders to the border
troops with revised protocol including more direct restrictions on the use of
shooting in public settings particularly in front of a crowd of onlookers.
Furthermore, the government authorized the granting of medical assistance to
any would be escapee who was wounded in an attempt to flee from East Germany.
Although Fechter would not live to see the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, in
the years leading up to the end of the division of Germany he became a martyr
in the struggle for German reunification. Memorials would be erected in his
honor and those of others murdered trying to escape. Numerous tributes would be dedicated in his memory and his death would became the subject of many films,
documentaries and books. Although he would not be the last person to die trying to escape over the Berlin Wall, he was instrumental in reforming policy in dealing with would be escapees.
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