Christian Buttkus
Christian Buttkus (born February 21, 1944 in Tilsit , † March 4, 1965 near Kleinmachnow ) was a victim of the Berlin Wall . While trying to escape with his fiancée, he was killed with 25 projectiles by members of the GDR border troops .
Life
Christian Buttkus was born in Tilsit in 1944 as the second child of his parents. At the end of the Second World War the family fled from the Red Army to Berlin-Niederschönhausen . After completing secondary school, he began an apprenticeship as a chemical technician at VEB Berlin-Chemie in 1960 , where he was also employed after his apprenticeship. In April 1964 he became engaged to Ilse P., with whom he was planning to flee to the West. To this end, he began to manufacture diving equipment in August 1964 , as their joint plan was to leave the GDR through the Teltow Canal . However, an underwater vehicle developed for this turned out to be unsuitable. On March 1, 1965, they abandoned these plans.
Their new plan was to cross the border near Kleinmachnow in bad weather, such as the heavy snowfall on March 4, 1965 . On the evening of March 3, 1965, Christian Buttkus and Ilse P. took the S-Bahn and then the bus to Kleinmachnow. They carried money, documents, wire cutters and two white coats. From the bus stop they went into a forest on the border. They put on their white coats for camouflage. When they reached the border, they crossed the barricade and triggered the alarm at around 1:15 a.m. They ran through the death strip to get over the last three rows of barbed wire fence . She took a pair of guards and a control patrol under fire. Of the 199 projectiles released, 25 hit Christian Buttkus in the upper body. He died on the spot. His fiancée was grazed in the lower leg. While she was being taken to a hospital, the border guards dragged Christian Buttkus' body into the barrier trench to prevent him from being seen from the west. The Potsdam District Court sentenced Ilse P. to a suspended sentence of 20 months.
After German reunification, the Potsdam public prosecutor's office began investigations against the border guards involved, which ended with charges before the Potsdam district court . This sentenced the shooter on December 22, 1994 to a prison term of 18 months on probation. A wooden cross in Berlin-Zehlendorf reminiscent of Christian Buttkus was removed in 1999.
literature
- Hans-Hermann Hertle, Maria Nooke : The victims of the Berlin Wall 1961–1989. A biographical manual . Ch. Links, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-86153-517-1 .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Buttkus, Christian |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German casualty from the Berlin Wall |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 21, 1944 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Tilsit |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 4, 1965 |
| Place of death | Berlin |