Peter Fechter

Peter Fechter

Peter Fechter was born on January 14, 1944 in Nazi Germany.

He was the third of four Children and the only Son.

His Father was a Mechanical Engineer and his Mother was a Saleswoman.

After World War 2 his District of Berlin (Weißensee) was in the Soviet Occupation Zone (ie East Berlin.)

Peter finished School when he was 14 years old and started working as a Bricklayer.

Being a Bricklayer was in high demand with all the Post-War Construction going on in East Berlin and East Germany.

Peter’s oldest Sister married and lived in West Berlin and was regularly visited by Peter and his Parents.

From 1945-1961 East Berliners and West Berliners could easily visit each other.

On August 13, 1961 the East German and Soviet Communist Governments built the Berlin Wall, closing the last loop-hole East Germans had to visit or flee to the West.

Overnight, Peter and his Parents were cut-off from his Sister/Daughter in West Berlin.

Peter, not wanting to be locked inside Communist East Germany and wanting his Freedom had long planned to flee to the West.

The East German Government had recently rejected Peter’s application to temporarily visit West Berlin even though his Work wrote:

“Colleague F. is a willing and hard-working Craftsman. Loafing and absenteeism are not a problem with him.”

On August 17, 1962 Peter and his Friend, Helmut Kulbeik, decided the time to flee was now.

Peter and Helmut had met in early 1962 they were both involved in rebuilding the former Kaiser-Wilhelm-Palais, a Palace on the Unter den Linden Boulevard.

(Peter dying after being shot.)

The plan was to hide in a Carpenter's Workshop near the Wall on Zimmerstrasse and, after observing the East German Border Guards from there, to jump out of a window into the "Death-Strip" (a strip running between the main wall and a parallel fence which they had recently started to construct), run across it, and climb over the 6.5 Foot Wall topped with barbed wire into the Kreuzberg District of West Berlin near Checkpoint Charlie.

Peter and Kulbeik made it to the last Wall when the East German Border Guards started firing at them.

The East German Border Guards were ordered to Shoot-To-Kill anyone trying to flee East Berlin or East Germany.

Kulbeik was successful in making it over the Wall.

Peter was shot in the pelvis while he was still climbing over the Wall.

Even while wounded the East German Border Guards continued to shot at him.

It was in full view of hundreds of West Berliners watching from the other side.

Peter fell back into the Death Strip on the East German side.

Peter screamed in pain for 1 hour. 

(An East German Border Guard finally removing Peter's dead body.)

The East German Border Guards refused to help him.

Standing on a ladder the West Berlin Police asked him his name and threw bandages across the Wall to him, but he couldn’t reach them.

Members of the US Military at nearby Checkpoint Charlie were ordered not to intervene since it would have started World War 3.

After an hour of screaming Peter bled to death.

He was 18 years old.

As a result of Peter’s death a spontaneous Demonstration erupted with hundreds of West Berliners shouting “Murderers” to the East German Border Guards.

(Peter Fechter Memorial Cross at Checkpoint Charlie.)

The East German Border Guards finally retrieved his dead body,

The Chief Propagandist of East Germany, Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler, justified the Border Guards’ brutality as being good for and in the interest of the State.

In his commentary he dishonored the Victim with the following words:

“And when this kind of element […] is wounded directly on the border and not retrieved immediately – then a huge fuss is made. […] The life of each one of our brave young men in uniform is more important to us than the life of a lawbreaker. By staying away from our state border – blood, tears and screams can be avoided.”

This Commentary was broadcast on the East German Radio Program “Schwarzer Kanal” on the same day that Peter Fechter’s Funeral took place at the Cemetery of the Resurrection Congregation in Berlin-Weissensee.

In addition to losing their Son, Peter’s Parents suffered reprisals from both the East German Government and Ordinary East German Citizens for Decades as Peter was considered an “Enemy of the State.”

Shortly after his death a Cross was placed on the Western Side near the spot where Peter Fechter was shot and bled to death.

American News Magazine “Time” in August 1962 headlined Peter Fechter.

In this article, the expression "Wall of Shame" (German: Mauer der Schande) was coined, and this would become a synonym for the Wall.

After German Reunification in 1990, the Peter-Fechter-Stelle Memorial was constructed on Zimmerstraße, at the precise spot where he had died on the Eastern side.

It has the inscription: "… er wollte nur die Freiheit." ("… he just wanted freedom.")

(Memorial to Peter Fechter on Zimmerstraße.)

In March 1997, 7 years after the Reunification of Germany and 35 years after Peter’s death, 2former East German Border Guards, Rolf Friedrich and Erich Schreiber, faced Manslaughter charges for Peter’s death.

 Both admitted to the shooting after an intense investigation.

They were both convicted and sentenced to 20 and 21 Months' Imprisonment on Probation.

Due to a lack of conclusive evidence, the German Court was unable to determine which of three Gunmen (one of whom had already died) had fired the fatal bullet.

After pleading Guilty to the crime, during sentencing, both Guards apologized for killing Peter Fechter, saying that if they could take it back, they would, and that they were honestly remorseful for their actions.