Albrecht Pflaum

Plum plaque

Albrecht "Tonio" Pflaum (* March 7, 1947 , † April 30, 1983 Zompopera , Departamento Estelí , Nicaragua ) was a German doctor and development worker who was murdered together with 13 Nicaraguans in a Contra war in 1983 during a Contra attack .

Live and act

Nothing is known about Pflaum's childhood and youth. Apparently he had studied medicine in Freiburg im Breisgau . Since 1980 he worked for the German Development Service (DED) in Nicaragua . The country had been in a civil war since the early 1980s , in which US- supported contra rebels fought as guerrillas against the socialist- oriented Sandinista government under Daniel Ortega , which in turn received economic, military and intelligence support from the Eastern Bloc ; especially from Cuba and the GDR .

On April 30, 1983, Pflaum was in the Jinotega - Estelí area with 13 locals on their way to a May Day celebration . According to the first press reports, the 14-person bus was stopped by a contra unit, the passengers were forced to disembark and immediately afterwards murdered either by gunshots and / or bayonet stabs. The news of Pflaum's death reached the Foreign Office in Bonn via the West German embassy in Managua that evening . Pflaum left a wife and two children.

consequences

As a direct consequence of the attack, DED called its around 50 development workers across Nicaragua back to the capital Managua, where their safety could be guaranteed. Pflaum's body was transferred to the Federal Republic a few days later.

On May 2, 1983, around 25 West German nationals who described themselves as “internationalists” occupied the West German embassy in Managua and demanded that Ambassador Horst Heubaum set up an investigative commission, “for the murder of the German doctor and development worker Albrecht Pflaum ohne To enlighten consideration for 'allied' governments ”. (NWZ of May 3, 1983, p. 2) Two women known to the embassy staff who regularly picked up mail there had distracted the porter and a guard made up of a federal border guard so that the occupiers could penetrate the embassy grounds.

The occupation ended peacefully after seven hours; The next day, the action was criticized by 70 representatives of DED, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and the Society for Technical Cooperation in a declaration to the Federal Government under Helmut Kohl , but at the same time asked them to reconsider their previous Central America policy, especially since it has since emerged I believe that the policies of US President Ronald Reagan are the greatest disruptive factor in Central American conditions. (NWZ of May 4, 1983, p. 2) Reagan himself shortly afterwards described the former supporters of the dictator Somoza (Contras) as "freedom fighters" and called for their open support. (NWZ of May 6, 1983, p. 3)

On May 4, 1983 used in the German Bundestag in Bonn the representatives of the Greens , Petra Kelly and Gabriele Gottwald , the policy statement by Chancellor Kohl as an opportunity to unfold a banner with the words "Mr. Kohl! Support of the USA in Nicaragua means complicity in the death of Albrecht Pflaum ”. The banner was secured by ushers after Kelly and Gottwald refused to take it down.

It is not known whether criminal investigations into Pflaum's death were initiated in the Federal Republic or Nicaragua .

Culture of remembrance

In 1983 the songwriter Walter Mossmann composed the piece of music "Restless Requiem", in which he blamed US President Ronald Reagan and Federal Chancellor Kohl for the death of Pflaum, whom he apparently knew personally.
In memory of Pflaum, a memorial plaque was placed on Freiburg's Wiwilí Bridge .
In the Rieselfeld district of Freiburg , the Tonio-Pflaum-Weg is named after Pflaum.

literature

Holly Sklar : Washington's Was in Nicaragua . South End Press, Boston (Massachusetts) 1988, ISBN 0-89608-296-2 , p. 357
Nicaragua: German doctor murdered. Right-wing irregulars cause carnage . In: Nordwest-Zeitung , May 2, 1983, p. 1.
Concern for Central America . In: Nordwest-Zeitung , May 3, 1983, p. 2.
Invasion of Somoza supporters. Nicaragua: Bonn controversy - Wischnewski -Travel . In: Nordwest-Zeitung , May 4, 1983, p. 2.
Reagan's "freedom fighter". President questions Nicaragua's left-wing government . In: Nordwest-Zeitung , May 6, 1983, p. 3.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Pflaum, Albrecht
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Plum, Tonio (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German doctor and development worker
DATE OF BIRTH	March 7, 1947
DATE OF DEATH	April 30, 1983
Place of death	Zompopera , Estelí Department , Nicaragua