Ida Siekmann

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ida Siekmann in the memorial window of the Berlin Wall Memorial

Ida Siekmann (born August 23, 1902 in Gorken , West Prussia , † August 22, 1961 in Berlin ) was the first to die on the Berlin Wall . Nine days after the sector border was sealed off, she had a fatal accident while fleeing the GDR .

Life

The Cypriot President Makarios in front of the memorial for Ida Siekmann on May 23, 1962
Bernauer Strasse in 1955. On the Wikimedia Commons page, the front door of number 48 and the window on the third floor from which Siekmann jumped are highlighted
Grave of Ida Siekmann, Urnenfriedhof Seestrasse , Berlin-Wedding (2011)
Memorial plaque in Bernauer Strasse: “To the victim of the wall of shame Ida Siekmann; † August 22, 1961, dedicated "

Ida Siekmann was born in the Gorken manor in the Marienwerder district. In 1961 she lived at Bernauer Strasse 48 in the East Berlin district of Berlin-Mitte , worked as a nurse and was widowed. She had a sister, Martha L., who lived just a few blocks away on Lortzingstrasse in the West Berlin district of Wedding . The buildings on the southern side of Bernauer Strasse had belonged to the Soviet sector since 1945, while the northern development and the full width of the street belonged to the French sector. Anyone who stepped out of the house on the East Berlin side was in West Berlin. When the sector border was sealed off, the border police locked the East Berlin front doors and regularly checked the residents. From August 18, new house entrances were created by laying paths across backyards and at the same time barricading the front doors.

On August 21, it was the turn of Siekmann's house. On the morning of August 22, 1961, she threw feather beds and the like out of one of her windows on the third floor onto the sidewalk belonging to West Berlin ( 52 ° 32 ′ 24.8 ″  N , 13 ° 24 ′ 10.56 ″  E ). With that she wanted to intercept her case. A little later Siekmann jumped out of the window before the West Berlin fire brigade could bring a jumping mat. She was so badly injured in the impact that she died on the way to the nearby Lazarus Hospital .

The press in West Berlin reported in detail about the first death after the Wall was built. It aroused anger and disgust in the population. Siekmann was cremated in the Wedding crematorium and buried in the Seestrasse urn cemetery on August 29, 1961. West Berlin politicians also took part in the cemetery among the many mourners. Siekmann's coffin was decorated with flowers in the colors of Berlin.

The Wedding district set up a memorial at the site of the accident, which was later replaced by a plaque. On August 23, 1962, Robert F. Kennedy and Willy Brandt laid a wreath there. Siekmann is remembered at the memorial stone for victims of the Berlin Wall as well as with a photo in the "Window of Remembrance" at the Berlin Wall Memorial . In Münster , the Ida-Siekmann-Weg has been named after her since 2010.

literature

  • Werner Filmer , Heribert Schwan : Victims of the Wall. The Secret Logs of Death . Bertelsmann, Munich 1991, ISBN 978-3-570-02319-8 , pp. 77 .
  • Christine Brecht: Ida Siekmann . In: The victims of the Berlin Wall 1961–1989 . Links, Berlin 2009, pp. 34–36.

Web links

Commons : Ida Siekmann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Peter Galante, Jack Miller: The Berlin Wall . Arthur Baker Ltd., Jan. 1, 1965, pp. 79-80.
  2. ↑ The victim of bondage . In: BILD , August 29, 1961
  3. ↑ The sister's address was found in the dead woman's pocket . (PDF) In: Hamburger Abendblatt , 23 August 1961.
  4. ↑ The last greeting. In: BILD newspaper of August 30, 1961.
personal data
SURNAME Siekmann, Ida
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German casualty from the Berlin Wall
DATE OF BIRTH August 23, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Gork
DATE OF DEATH August 22, 1961
Place of death Berlin