Frank Möller (refugee)

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Frank Möller (born July 14, 1946 in Ichtershausen ; † February 17, 1971 in Geisa ) came from the GDR and successfully crossed the border barriers on the inner-German border three times between 1966 and 1970 - twice in east-west and once in west-east Direction. On the fourth attempt to cross the border - this time in an east-west direction - he was shot by border guards after opening fire.

Life

After eight years of attending school, Frank Möller began training as a construction plumber, which he broke off after an accident at work. Then he worked as a shunter in Arnstadt . In his convocation he signed up for three years of service as a soldier on time at the East German border troops . In July 1966 he fled to West Germany in the area of ​​his border company in Geisa . After his escape he lived in Kaufbeuren , where he found a friend who also came from the GDR .

Together they returned to the GDR in February 1967, climbing over the border fortifications. When he reported to the authorities there, he was arrested and taken to the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen prison. There he confessed that he had been recruited by the Federal Intelligence Service and had returned to the GDR on its behalf. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment by the Berlin Military Court for desertion , betrayal of secrets and activity as an agent. While in custody, he signed a letter of commitment as an unofficial employee of the Ministry of State Security .

In 1969 he was released early from prison and worked again as a shunter at Arnstadt train station . He was monitored by the State Security and summoned several times. In April 1970 he fled again to the Federal Republic with his new fiancée, a work colleague.

On February 17, 1971, he tried again to cross the inner-German border in the direction of the GDR. After a call from two border guards, he opened fire from a small-caliber pistol. The guards shot back and hit him badly twice. Frank Möller was taken to the Geisa hospital, where he died that same evening. One of the two border guards who shot him was Wolfgang Graner . Graner was shot himself trying to escape three months later.

Möller's death was listed in a number of overviews of border deaths, including in the Salzgitter Report (1991) and in Volker Koop (1996). On the 55th anniversary of the building of the Wall, the Süddeutsche Zeitung published an article about twelve exemplary cases of deaths at the border, including Wolfgang Schumann , Benito Corghi , Michael Gartenschläger , Jürgen Fuchs , Kurt Lichtenstein , Klaus Seifert , and Frank Möller.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reinhold Albert, Hans-Jürgen Salier : Borderline experiences compact. The border regime between southern Thuringia and Bavaria / Hesse from 1945 to 1990. (= series of publications by the Association for Local History in Grabfeld eV , Volume 28) Salier, Leipzig / Hildburghausen 2009, ISBN 978-3-939611-35-6 , p. 122.
  2. ↑ Heiner Sauer, Hans-Otto Plumeyer: The Salzgitter Report: the central registration office reports on crimes in the SED state . Ullstein, Munich 1991, ISBN 978-3-7628-0497-0 , p. 281.
  3. ↑ Volker Koop: Destroy the enemy: the border security of the GDR . Bouvier, Bonn 1996, ISBN 3-416-02633-0 , p. 356.
  4. ↑ Luca Deutschländer, Barbara Galaktionow: Drowned in the Elbe, shot in the border area, killed by mines . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung of August 13, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Möller, Frank
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German workers, killed on the inner-German border
DATE OF BIRTH July 14, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Ichtershausen
DATE OF DEATH 17th February 1971
Place of death Geisa