Horst Frank (Wall victim)

Memorial plaque , Klemkestrasse, in Berlin-Reinickendorf

Memorial cross for Horst Frank in Berlin-Wilhelmsruh

Horst Frank (born May 7, 1942 in Lommatzsch ; † April 29, 1962 in Berlin ) was a victim of the Berlin Wall . He was shot dead by members of the GDR border troops while on the run in Berlin-Wilhelmsruh .

Life

After completing an apprenticeship as a gardener, he moved from his native Saxony to Berlin, where he got a job with a state horticultural company in the Weißensee district . Immediately before he was called up for basic military service in the NVA , he decided to flee to West Berlin . Together with Detlev W., a friend from his hometown, he tried to cross the sector boundary near the Schönholz allotment garden colony on April 29, 1962 at around 0.30 a.m. With wire cutters they first cut through the hinterland fence and crawled through the 80-meter-wide death strip, proceeding very slowly and carefully. As a result, they managed to identify a tripwire and bypass it without triggering the alarm. When they had reached between the second and third fence of the border system after four hours, Horst Frank was discovered. He got caught in a roll of barbed wire between the two border fences and was hit by several targeted shots by the border guards. His friend Detlev W. managed to escape. Hanging helplessly in the barbed wire, Horst Frank was rescued by the border troops and later taken to the People's Police Hospital . He died there around 4 a.m.

After the German reunification in 1990, the three shooters were identified. In 1995 they were sentenced by the Berlin Regional Court for joint manslaughter to prison terms of between 15 and 18 months, which were suspended.

literature

• Christine Brecht : Horst Frank . In: The victims of the Berlin Wall 1961–1989 . Links, Berlin 2009, pp. 85–87.

Web links

Commons : Horst Frank  - Collection of Images

• Brief portrait of Horst Frank. chronik-der-mauer.de