Peter Böhme (victim of the wall)

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Memorial plaque in Babelsberg

Peter Böhme (born August 17, 1942 in Chemnitz ; † April 18, 1962 in Potsdam ) was a victim of the Berlin Wall . While trying to cross the border between Potsdam and West Berlin , he first shot the border police officer Jörgen Schmidtchen and then died himself.

Life

Peter Böhme grew up in Karl-Marx-Stadt . He first came into contact with the authorities at school after buying jeans in West Berlin. After school he started an apprenticeship as a car mechanic , which he had to break off in 1960 after fleeing the GDR . His father brought him back from West Berlin. The GDR authorities asked him to undertake a multi-year commitment to serve in the National People's Army , which he began in April 1960. With the NVA he went to the anti-aircraft and artillery school in Geltow near Potsdam at the end of 1961 . There he met Wolfgang Gundel, who was also forced to serve on charges of offenses. Together they decided to desertion to commit and started in spring 1962 with the preparations.

On the night of April 17, 1962, the duo stole two pistols and matching ammunition from a gun cabinet in their officers' school. The theft was discovered the next morning. Böhme and Gundel sat down and walked to Potsdam, eight kilometers away. They hid there during the day. The following night, April 18, they went to Potsdam-Babelsberg and walked there on the tracks of the Griebnitzsee train station in the direction of West Berlin. Assuming that the two uniformed men were a border patrol, the border policeman Jörgen Schmidtchen , who was on duty with another border policeman, left his position and ran to meet them. When he asked her for the slogan, there was an exchange of fire in the course of which Peter Böhme and - by Boehme's weapon - Jörgen Schmidtchen were fatally wounded. Wolfgang Gundel managed to escape to the West.

The escape was received differently in the two German states. While the GDR press reported of a common crime and a border breach by agents, the western media wrote of an act of self-defense and the targeted murder of the refugee. The GDR authorities demanded the extradition of the “murderer” who had fled. During the reprocessing of the events after German reunification, it was found that Jörgen Schmidtchen died from a bullet from Peter Boehme's weapon. Böhme died from a bullet from the service weapon of the second border police officer, who was granted self-defense. Wolfgang Gundel was spied on by the Ministry for State Security for years after his escape .

literature

  • Christine Brecht : Peter Böhme , in: The victims of the Berlin Wall 1961–1989 , Berlin 2009, pp. 82–84.

Web links

Commons : Peter Böhme  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Federal Agency for Civic Education: Böhme, Peter | Chronicle of the Wall. Retrieved April 9, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Böhme, Peter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German casualty from the Berlin Wall
DATE OF BIRTH August 17, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Chemnitz
DATE OF DEATH April 18, 1962
Place of death Potsdam