Wall jumper

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As Wall Jumper people are defined to be from West to East Berlin on the Berlin Wall climbing. During the 28 years of existence of the wall, this has occurred in at least 400 cases, with several injuries and at least five fatalities . Refugees from the GDR were rarely referred to as wall jumpers.

history

The Berlin Wall was much easier to overcome from West Berlin than from the East. There was no surveillance of the border strip and the border installations were designed to prevent crossings from the GDR to West Berlin. Wall jumpers could put ladders on the wall, climb onto parked cars or get onto the wall via one of the observation posts set up along the course of the wall. After the four-power agreement concluded in 1971 over Berlin , West Berliners could travel to East Berlin without having to illegally cross the Wall, which they had previously been largely denied.

The motives for jumping the wall were different. The wall jumpers often wanted to win bets, impress their friends or prove their courage. In many cases, alcohol played a decisive role. In more rare cases, the wall jump was intended as a protest against the wall, in 1971 Dieter Beilig died . The mentally ill Arnold Kabe climbed over the wall fifteen times from Kreuzberg. He gave boredom as a motive. Werner Kühl climbed over the border security system because he wanted to move to the GDR. He was mistaken for a GDR refugee by border soldiers and shot.

The largest number of wall jumpers was in 1988. Before an area swap between the GDR and West Berlin, the Lenné triangle , which at that time still belonged to the GDR area but located on the west side of the wall, was occupied by left-wing activists. When the West Berlin police cleared the site on July 1, 1988, 182 demonstrators climbed over the wall to East Berlin. There they were loaded onto three trucks by the border troops and taken to a company canteen. They later left the GDR in small groups via regular border crossings. In the run-up to the "escape action", representatives of the demonstrators had contacted the Ministry of State Security , which was preparing for the transfer without any support.

The border troops of the GDR referred to wall jumpers as "Grenzverletzer WB-DDR". For these cases, there were separate instructions that required immediate arrest without requiring the use of firearms. Arrested persons were to be brought to the Ministry of State Security and were taken over there by Department IX. This initiated an investigation. In many cases they were returned soon, especially if alcohol consumption, ignorance of the border line or similar reasons were found. Deliberate "border provocations" were pursued.

dead

At least four people were killed when the wall burst. There were also several injuries.

Dieter Beilig (1941–1971) was another wall jumper. His shooting by GDR police officers was related to his actions.

Wall jumper in literature, film and art

The writer Stefan Heym wrote the short story Mein Richard in 1974 . It is about two young people from the GDR - both with the first name Richard - who climb over the wall, go to a West Berlin cinema and then climb back over the wall. They cannot use a border crossing for the way back because their way there was a criminal offense ( illegal border crossing ). After their 14th tour, they are arrested and brought to justice. Her lawyer says they deserved a medal instead of a punishment for having "demonstrated their absolute loyalty to our republic fourteen times in a row."

In 1982 the West German writer Peter Schneider took up Heym's story in his book Der Mauerspringer . He told an incident similar to Heym, but with three actors and from a different point of view.

In the same year Reinhard Hauff filmed the material under the title The Man on the Wall with Marius Müller-Westernhagen in the leading role.

The sculpture Melilla Wall Jumper by Spanish artist Fernando Sánchez Castillo has been in Herford since the end of 2017 . A bronze figure sits on a ten-meter-high lamp post and looks past the city center into the distance. Castillo addresses the refugee situation at the EU's external borders .

literature

  • Martin Schaad: "Then go over there": Over the wall to the east ; Ch. Links, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-86153-516-4 .
  • Thomas Kierok, Karolina Dombrowski (editor): Stories of the Wall . From the madness of life ; Braun, [Salenstein] 2009, ISBN 978-3-03-768040-7 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Schaad, 2009, p. 13f.
  2. ↑ Schaad, 2009, p. 15f.
  3. ↑ Schaad, 2009, p. 17f.
  4. ↑ Schaad, 2009, pp. 139ff.
  5. ↑ Schaad, 2009, pp. 20ff.
  6. ↑ a b Schaad, 2009, p. 16f.
  7. ↑ Ralf Bittner: Five gates - five places: The "Wall Jumper" now has its place at the Lübbertor . In: Herford . ( nw.de [accessed on February 25, 2018]).
  8. ↑ Portrait of the author: Dr. Martin Schaad , abstract