Karl Sommer (border victim)
Karl Gustav Sommer (born March 25, 1906 in Steinach , † October 16, 1949 in Meilschnitz ) was the first to die on the inner-German border . He was shot while crossing the border on October 16, 1949, just a few days after the GDR was founded .
Life
Karl Gustav Sommer was born in Steinach in Thuringia . Like his father, he learned the profession of pen maker and in 1929 settled with his wife in Haselbach in the Altenburger Land . In the period after the Second World War he often exchanged glass products for food in Bavaria. On October 15, 1949, eight days after the founding of the GDR, he went on an exchange trip with eight friends, during which Thuringian Christmas tree decorations were to be exchanged for food. Steinach about Mönchsröden and Oeslau the group crossed together against 2 am, the line of demarcation . After everyone had gone about their business, they tried to cross the border again at around 5:30 p.m. on October 16. While they were still in Bavarian territory, they were surprised by two GDR border police officers. The group fled into the forest, whereupon the two border police officers fired warning shots. As the border crossers continued to hide, one of the pursuers shot into the undergrowth and hit Karl Sommer in the thigh.
The group defied orders from the border police to take the badly injured summer to the other side. When a Bavarian doctor arrived later, Sommer was transported to Neustadt near Coburg to the local hospital, but succumbed to his injuries during the transport. His body was brought to Haselbach, where he was buried two days later.
In the 1990s, investigations began, but were closed because of the death of the then 17-year-old shooter.
In the chronology according to Jochen Staadt and Klaus Schroeder ( SED State Research Association ), it is the first death on the inner-German border.
literature
- Jochen Staadt , Klaus Schroeder (ed.): The victims of the GDR border regime on the inner-German border 1949–1989. A biographical manual . Wissenschaftsverlag Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2017, pp. 31–32 ISBN 978-3-7425-0119-6 (licensed edition for the Federal Agency for Civic Education )
Web links
- Information about Karl Sommer on the website of the SED State Research Association of the Free University of Berlin
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Summer, Karl |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Sommer, Karl Gustav (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German workers, fatalities on the inner-German border |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 25, 1906 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Steinach (Thuringia) |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 16, 1949 |
| Place of death | Meilschnitz |