When the Berlin Wall fell on the 9th November 1989, the world watched as the Iron Curtain
came down across Europe, as did communism in Eastern and Central Europe. Seeing those
Germans stood on top of the wall in front of the Brandenburg Gate was seen as a huge
moment in history, with the people split for so long finally allowed to cross from East
to West and so on. Shortly after the fall of the Wall, the Cold War came to an end,
and it was a time of much unease for millions across the world, but the crowds crossing
across is seen today as a symbol of liberty. However over the years, there were a significant
number of people who were murdered and killed whilst trying to cross the Berlin Wall and
most of them wished to head for West Germany, leaving the East and the Soviet areas.
During the time that the wall stood, over 100,000 people wanted to escape and attempted
to, and only 5000 were successful, but it’s been estimated than up to 200 were killed
in and around Berlin attempting to cross. Today we look at one of the saddest killings
of the Berlin Wall, a young German bricklayer who’s death had a significant effect on
those inside Berlin. Today we look at ‘The BRUTAL Killing Of Peter Fechter, The Victim
of the Berlin Wall.’ Remember to support, please make sure to subscribe.
Peter Fechter was born on the 14th January 1944 inside the final moments of the Second
World War, and Hitler’s Third Reich.
He was born in Berlin so as the war was turning against the Germans, but within months the
city would fall into the hands of the soviets as the savage Battle of Berlin erupted. The
fighting around the city was hellish and brutal, and the Soviet’s were known in Berlin for
killing civilians, so the fact the few months old Peter survived was a good thing. Little
is known about how he did this, however he was raised in a district of Berlin known as
the Weissensee district, and his father was an engineer and his mother worked in sales.
Little is known about his early life, but we can work out that he was educated in the
years that Berlin was carved up into the occupation zones, and that his education would have been
dominated and influenced because of this. Weissensee was found in the Soviet occupation
zone of Berlin when the city was divided, and this later became known as East Berlin,
found within East Germany. The Fechter family were divided as Peter’s sister lived in
the West where she had married, and she was visited by her family, but when the construction
of the Berlin Wall began and the East German government closed the border, this split the
family in two. They were no longer allowed to travel to the west to see his sister.
At the age of 14 Peter Fechter left school, and began his training working as an apprentice
bricklayer. He met a friend here named Helmuth Kulbeik, and together they worked at different
sites around Berlin on construction projects, continuing to rebuild the city after the effects
of the Second World War. Whilst the city was being repaired, the Berlin Wall also was being
constructed, and Peter understood a big political divide inside of the city, between communism
in the East and capitalism in the West, influenced by the different countries who controlled
the city. Peter had family in the west, and the thought that he would never see them again
was enough for him to contemplate defecting from East to West.
Together the young men began to come up with an escape plan, a plan that would see them
leaving the oppressive east and heading across to the more prosperous West. They began to
come up with some sort of plan, however this was not concrete and together they began to
explore the border region to consider how they could head over to the West without fear
of death. They had been thinking of fleeing for a long time, but they did not make any
specific preparations on how to breach the border. They had discussed together the need
to flee, and they knew that life would be better for them in the west.
A file uncovered in the Stasi archives stated how Peter Fechter’s company had denied him
a trip to West Germany in the past, and this may have forced his hand to try to flee. He
was considered at work a model employee. Now whilst walking through the city of Berlin,
Helmut and Peter noticed a dilapidated and damaged building on Schutzenstrasse, that
once housed a carpentry workshop. The back windows faced Zimmerstrasse and went up almost
to the wall. During a lunch break, they agreed to leave the construction site and to go and
investigate the building, which they believed could protect them and help them head for
freedom.
The wall had stood for around a year on the 17th August 1962 when Fechter and Helmuth
Kulbeik attempted to escape East Germany. The plan was to hide in the carpenter’s
workshop near the wall, and to keep an eye on border guards, and to then jump out of
a window into the death strip whilst they were not looking. The Berlin Wall was actually
two walls, and in between was an area of land known as the death strip, a bit of land that
was up to 160 years wide, that contained sand, anti vehicle trenches, watchtowers, guard
dogs, floodlights and even trip wire machine guns. It was a buffet zone, a no mans land,
but to be caught inside was deadly, with guards shooting anyone who was trying to escape.
The plan was to run across it and then climb over the 2 metre tall wall topped with barbed
wire, near to Checkpoint Charlie.
Holed up in the carpentry workshop, the two found a window in a storage room that wasn’t
bricked up, but they heard voices coming and they thought they had been discovered. Hey
then jumped out of the windows having taken off their shoes, and they ran from one side
of the wall, across the death strip. It was a race along time, the plan was initially
successful as both of the men reached the final wall, however as they began to climb
the last obstacle, East German border guards opened fire at them. Helmuth succeeding in
crossing the wall, but when this happened Fechter froze and was hit int he pelvis by
a bullet. Helmut later stated ‘I had reached the wall by then, jumped up and forced myself
through the barbed wire on top of the wall. I don’t know why Peter didn’t climb up,
he should have been at the wall before me. He didn’t say anything, and I had the feeling
when the shots were fired that he was in a state of shock. I called out loudly to him,
but he didn’t move.’
Four border guards fired 35 shots at the two, Fechter as he was hit bell backwards against
the wall for support. He fell back into the death strip on the East German side, in front
of hundreds of witnesses. He was hit and screaming, with his shouts piercing for help, but he
was simply just left. In front of hundreds, Peter Fechter slowly died from his injuries,
and no medical help came from the East German side, and could not be helped by the West
Germans. West Berlin threw him bandages which didn’t reach him, and Fechter slowly bled
to death over the course of an hour. The angry crowds then gathered in West Berlin, outraged
in what they saw, meeting the border guards and accusing them of being murdered. The lack
of medical help was what outraged the crowds and the world, as photographers caught the
whole events, and the pictures were seen around the world. It was seen as horrific, the young
18 year old boy who wished for a better life bleeding out when his life could have possibly
been saved.
The East later admitted that mistakes were made, and it was said that ‘the injured
Fechter should have been removed from the border grounds,’ but reports stated that
the damage was done with the shot to Fechter causing him serious injury of which he may
not have recovered from. Later in 1997 after the reunification of Germany, 35 years after
Fechter’s death, two former guards were placed on trial for manslaughter and were
convicted. It wasn’t clear who fired the fatal bullet, however the killing of Peter
Fechter showed all of those people around the world what the situation inside of Berlin
was like.
The Wall was referred to as ‘The Wall of Shame,’ and Fechter’s life was one of
just hundreds that were taken as desperate people tried to cross across to the West to
flee the oppression they may have been suffering. The West was seen as a haven for many in the
East, and the Killing of Peter Fechter was one of possibly over 200 which occured. Some
came up with more elaborate plans, and some were killed in different ways, but the state
of Berlin and politics at the time restricted the freedom so much of those Berliner’s
living in the city. Peter Fechter’s killing was incredibly shocking, and he’s remembered
today as a victim of the Berlin Wall.
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