Hartmut Ferworn

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Hartmut Ferworn (* October 30, 1950 - November 16, 2013 ) was a cook from the GDR who, according to reports in the GDR media, was allegedly kidnapped by human traffickers from Hungary to Austria in 1989 . This later turned out to be a fictitious false report by the GDR media. The mass flight of GDR citizens to the Federal Republic was intended to be presented as the result of a “cold-blooded professional human trafficker” campaign supported by the Federal Republic of Germany .

Message in New Germany

On September 21, 1989, the New Germany (ND) hosted an interview with the Berlin-based Hartmut Ferworn (“Member of the SED, ” “ I experienced how BRD citizens are 'made' ”) , happily married, three children ”).

According to the report in the newspaper, Ferworn, cook in the Mitropa - dining car of the Corvina Express train , was on September 11, 1989 during a walk in Budapest , where he had stayed for a few hours, from an unknown German "with Leipzig dialect" and one Hungarian woman drugged with a cup of coffee and a menthol cigarette . He then woke up in a coach "on the way to the FRG" and was taken to the "FRG embassy" in Vienna by his kidnapper named Jens Wunsch , where there were many other "enticed GDR citizens". His kidnapper then received a “pack of D-Mark bills” from another villain named Strozzig . With the help of the GDR embassy in Vienna, he was able to escape the “unscrupulous smugglers”.

On the same day, excited letters to the editor were published in Neues Deutschland ( “Citizens of the GDR outraged about human trafficking in the FRG” ) and there was also a film report in the series “ Lens ” on GDR television.

enlightenment

After the parents of the alleged “poacher” and many other readers had complained about the representation, the New Germany printed an article on November 3, 1989, which reported on the parents' request for a reply and in which regretted the publication in September has been. The article points out that the September contribution would be based on Ferworn's account of the events. About the alleged kidnapping it is said "... the Mitropa chef Hartmut Ferworn from Berlin described that he was virtually kidnapped from Budapest to Vienna".

On January 4, 1990, the DFF broadcast the report “The Menthol Cigarette Story. A story from the old GDR ” by Hannes Zahn . In it, Ferworn described how he had been blackmailed into his statements by the Ministry for State Security after his return to the GDR . Ferworn had left for Vienna via Hungary, but there he decided to return to the GDR and, according to other sources, in cooperation with SED and MfS, considered the kidnapping story as a “reparation”. On January 5, 1990, the ND admitted that the Ferworn story was a fictitious robber pistol. Editor-in-chief Herbert Naumann is said to have claimed after the fall of the Wall that Ferworn's story was “forced” on the newspaper by the agitation department of the Central Committee: “Unfortunately, I initially believed it, because of course there were also enticements in Hungary, and the man kept assuring me on tape that the matter is correct. Central Committee and State Security vouched for the truth. We therefore did not do any counter-research. "()

The interviewers Reinert and Standke were still employed in the New Germany in the 2000s. Olaf Standke worked there as Head of Foreign Affairs in 2009.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Neues Deutschland , September 21, 1989 p. 1 and p. 3; Facsimile of a reprint of the ND article in the Volkswacht of September 22, 1989 at spiegel.de ( Memento of December 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 146 kB)
  2. ↑ Neues Deutschland , September 21, 1989, p. 3.
  3. ↑ On our own behalf . In: New Germany . November 3, 1989, p. 2 : “The editorial team received numerous letters in which the representation was doubted because the case was not typical for the departure of many GDR citizens. [...] We have to accept this criticism with today's knowledge and therefore regret the publication. "
  4. ^ Gunter Holzweißig: Change in the GDR media through the "Wende" . In: Casper-Hehne / Schweiger (Hrsg.): Germany and the "Wende" in literature, language and media: intercultural and culture-contrasting perspectives . Universitätsverlag, Göttingen 2009, ISBN 978-3-940344-58-8 , p. 144 f .
  5. ↑ Gunter Holzweißig: Censorship without a censor. The SED information dictatorship . Bouvier, Bonn 1997, ISBN 978-3-416-02675-8 , pp. 109 ff .
  6. ↑ Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk : Endgame. The 1989 revolution in the GDR . 2nd Edition. CH Beck, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-58357-5 , p. 353 .
  7. ↑ Peter Richter: 20 years ago - election manipulation and wave of emigration promote the erosion of a state (part 2). In: blogsgesang.de. May 17, 2009, accessed April 4, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Nick Reimer, Steffen Grimberg: The Menthol Affair. "BRD is involved in human trafficking with GDR citizens"? Fifteen years ago today, “New Germany” corrected a false report for the first time . In: The daily newspaper: taz . No. 7504 , November 3, 2004, ISSN  0931-9085 , p. 17 ( taz.de [accessed April 4, 2018]).
  9. ↑ Imprint Neues Deutschland, Internet source , accessed on August 20, 2009.
personal data
SURNAME Ferworn, Hartmut
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German cook, alleged kidnapping victim
DATE OF BIRTH October 30, 1950
DATE OF DEATH November 16, 2013