Peter and Christa Gross-Feurich

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The married couple Christa and Peter Gross in the cell wing of the Bautzen Memorial, Bautzenforum May 2011

In February 1975 Christa Feurich tried to flee the GDR with the help of her friend Peter Gross . However, the then chef of the Swiss ambassador to East Berlin and his East German girlfriend were arrested at the border.

After three years and three months in prison, they were released to West Germany in exchange for the East German agent couple Hans-Günter and Gisela Wolf . They later married in Switzerland; the GDR judgments against them were overturned after reunification . Her case formed the basis of the feature film Once Ku'damm and Back and an exhibition.

To get to know

The Swiss Peter Gross took up his position as chef for the Swiss ambassador in East Berlin in November 1973. The state representation was located in the diplomatic quarter in Berlin-Pankow , on Esplanade 21 , the residence of the ambassador couple on Kuckhoffstrasse . A little later he met Christa Feurich in an East Berlin café; a love relationship developed. On the weekends, the two often went for jaunts into the Berlin area with Gross' Mini Cooper . Since Gross was part of the technical staff of the diplomatic corps, he had a CY license plate due to an international agreement that identified him as a member of the embassy. This allowed the border between East and West Berlin to be crossed relatively easily. He also had an ID from the GDR Foreign Ministry with which he could always drive uncontrolled along the diplomatic lane at all crossings from east to west and back again. In November 1974, Gross persuaded his girlfriend to go to West Berlin with him. Feurich climbed into the trunk of his mini in a forest near Berlin under cover of darkness. They passed the Checkpoint Charlie border control point unmolested . On November 25, 1974, both returned to East Berlin, as Gross did not want to jeopardize his contract with the Swiss embassy.

Treason and Arrest

At the beginning of 1975 Gross and Feurich again planned a trip to West Berlin. This should give them security for Christa Feurich's final escape from the GDR , which was scheduled for May 1975. On Saturday afternoon, February 1st, Feurich climbed into the trunk of the Mini Cooper one more time. To relieve her excitement, she took sedatives. They drove to the Bornholmer Strasse border crossing . The first barrier went up and the border officer waved Peter Gross through as always when six officers armed with machine guns approached him. They ordered him to open the trunk; Feurich and Gross were arrested and taken away. Employees of the Ministry for State Security (MfS) had already expected the couple. The MfS has been watching Peter Gross since 1971. At that time, the Swiss man was often privately in the GDR. He was suspected of helping GDR citizens flee to the West. Therefore, the MfS counter-espionage observed during the operational investigation process “Schleuse” Gross. Gross has also been spied on by IM "Nicolai", who works as a chauffeur in the embassy, ​​since he started working at the Swiss embassy .

In December 1974, Peter Zemke and Dieter Brosowski, two friends of Gross, reported to the People's Police in Bernau . Both were afraid of making themselves aware of the crime and had told what they knew about the Swiss embassy chef. Zemke and Brosowski had been instructed in regular meetings with the MfS, as IM "Peter" and "Dieter", to collect further information about Peter Gross and his plans. From then on, Feurich and Gross had been shadowed, their daily routines had been checked, personality pictures had been created and evidence for the arrest had been gathered. On January 10, 1975, the Stasi had proposed the arrest of Gross and Feurich on suspicion of anti-subversive human trafficking.

judgment

After their arrest, Christa Feurich and Peter Gross were taken to the MfS remand prison in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen . For five months, until the verdict was pronounced in mid-July 1975, they had to sit there in solitary confinement. During that time, they were interrogated several times by employees of the MfS in order to track down those who knew about the action and other people who wanted to flee. Christa Feurich's apartment in Bernau and that of her parents in Zittau were searched, work colleagues were interviewed and the couple's entire private life was examined. The trials were conducted separately at the beginning of July 1975. Christa Feurich came before the District Court of Dresden , the trial of Peter Gross took place before the District Court of Berlin-Lichtenberg instead. The judgments of July 14 and 15, 1975 were four and a half years in prison for Christa Feurich and five years for Peter Gross for illegally crossing the border or for aiding and abetting according to Section 213 of the Criminal Code . An appeal by the Swiss to reduce the penalty was unsuccessful.

Detention in Bautzen II

Both were sent to the Bautzen II prison for prison purposes . Peter Gross was committed to the MfS special detention center for so-called state criminals on August 25, 1975 and Christa Feurich on October 23, 1975. Christa Feurich knew how to adapt to the strict regime in Bautzen II. She has received several awards for her good work as a kitchen helper and her always correct compliance with the house rules. But she also used her work in the kitchen to hide small messages from Peter Gross in the meal. He in turn answered her by writing in chalk on the bottom of the aluminum bowls. In this way they managed to stay in constant contact through secret messages. During the entire detention period, the two were only allowed one 30-minute face-to-face encounter. Very rarely were they allowed to write letters to each other. Peter Gross, on the other hand, found it difficult to submit to the strict prison code. Gross spent almost 100 days in detention due to refusal to work, damage to the cell facilities and assault against prison staff.

Discharge

After three years and three months in prison, Peter Gross and Christa Feurich were released on parole in the Federal Republic. They served as a bargaining chip for the release of the GDR agent couple Hans-Günter and Gisela Wolf arrested in Switzerland . Scientists from the Free University of Berlin are currently working on the MfS documents on the Swiss embassy and the Grosses.

The former envoy Paul Widmer expresses himself critically in his book about the long imprisonment. It is now known that just three months after the arrest, the GDR wanted to exchange the two young people who were being held without a trial. Switzerland refused this several times until the exchange on May 16, 1978. In May 1975, the GDR couple Hans-Günter and Gisela Wolf were sentenced to long prison terms in Switzerland for espionage. Much evidence indicated that Gross and Feurich served as “barter goods” for the release of this pair of agents. Among other things, the date of her judgment announcement speaks for this. In addition, Gross and Feurich were released to the Federal Republic of Germany in May 1978 just a few days after the Wolfs had been released from Swiss custody. Today there are no records from the MfS on the agents and the connection with the Gross case, as all the documents from the MfS's investigation department were destroyed in 1990. In the MfS files on Christa Feurich, her detention case is "solved between the GDR and Switzerland, Feurich is to be removed from List HI / 76." The list refers to the exchange between the GDR and the Federal Republic. Half a year after their release, on December 15, 1978, they married in Basel. Christa took on Swiss citizenship. As independent business people, they ran various hotels and restaurants and finally relocated their business to the retail trade . From 2000 to 2011 they lived and worked in Stein am Rhein . They are spending their retirement in Baden-Württemberg .

In the 1980s, the Gross case inspired director Herbert Ballmann and screenwriter Jürgen Engert to make a film. Once on Ku'damm and back with Ursela Monn and Christian Kohlund in the leading roles, it was a considerable success in Germany.

The judgments against Christa and Peter Gross were overturned in 1992 and 1995. Both have been rehabilitated .

Exhibition of the Bautzen Memorial

Traveling exhibition "The Gross Fall" at the Bautzen Memorial

Peter and Christa Gross' fate is depicted in the Bautzen Memorial in the permanent exhibition “Stasi prison 1956–1989” and also on biography steles and in eyewitness videos. In May 2000 the touring exhibition “The Gross Fall” opened at the Bautzen Memorial. The eight exhibition boards, printed on both sides, show photos, documents and the history of the couple. The traveling exhibition was last shown in 2011 at the Bautzen Memorial.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Karl Wilhelm Fricke, Silke Klewin: Bautzen II. Special Detention Center under MfS control 1956 to 1989 . Report and documentation. Ed .: Stiftung Sächsische Gedenkstätten to Remember the Victims of Political Tyranny (=  series of publications by the Stiftung Sächsische Gedenkstätten to Remember the Victims of Political Tyranny . Volume 8 ). Kiepenheuer, Leipzig 2001, ISBN 3-378-01056-8 , biographies. Christa Feurich and Peter Gross, S. 148 ff .
  2. ^ Paul Widmer: The Swiss Legation in Berlin. Stories of a Difficult Diplomatic Post . Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich 1997, ISBN 3-85823-683-7 , From Consulate General to Embassy, p. 377 .
  3. ↑ a b c Eckart D. Stratenschulte: With the turning point ten years ago, the division of the city ended. The book “Monologue of the Speakers” recalls everyday life in the years before. The cook who came out of the cold. In: berliner-zeitung.de. August 17, 1999, accessed August 1, 2016 .
  4. ↑ a b c d Nicole Preuß: In the trunk across the border. Peter Gross had simply imagined it. He wanted to cross the border with his girlfriend in the trunk. The escape ended in Bautzen II. In: sz-online.de. May 6, 2011, accessed July 30, 2016 .
  5. ↑ Christa Gross, Peter Gross: Once Ku'damm and back. How a Swiss got caught up in the machinations of the state security in the GDR and found the love of his life. A true Berlin story from a divided Germany . epubli, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-7375-3537-3 , section 4. As a private chef in the Swiss Embassy of the GDR, p. 28 .
  6. ↑ Christa Gross, Peter Gross: Once Ku'damm and back. How a Swiss got caught up in the machinations of the state security in the GDR and found the love of his life. A true Berlin story from a divided Germany . epubli, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-7375-3537-3 , section 6. Preparing to flee, p. 39 .
  7. ↑ Christa Gross, Peter Gross: Once Ku'damm and back. How a Swiss got caught up in the machinations of the state security in the GDR and found the love of his life. A true Berlin story from a divided Germany . epubli, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-7375-3537-3 , section 6. Preparing to flee, p. 36 .
  8. ↑ a b c Silke Klewin: The case of Gross. In the trunk from East to West Berlin. An attempt to escape ends in the Stasi prison in Bautzen II . Exhibition opening in the presence of Christa and Peter Gross with an introduction by Silke Klewin and a greeting from Lutz Rathenow . In: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (Ed.): 50 years of building the wall. About life with the "anti-fascist protective wall" . 22nd Bautzen Forum of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Leipzig office. May 5th and 6th 2011. Documentation. Leipzig 2011, ISBN 978-3-86872-910-8 , pp. 122–138 ( library.fes.de [PDF; 1.5 MB ; accessed on August 1, 2016]).
  9. ↑ Christa Gross, Peter Gross: Once Ku'damm and back. How a Swiss got caught up in the machinations of the state security in the GDR and found the love of his life. A true Berlin story from a divided Germany . epubli, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-7375-3537-3 , Section 8.Preparation and arrest at the Bornholmerstrasse border crossing, p. 53 f .
  10. ↑ Christa Gross, Peter Gross: Once Ku'damm and back. How a Swiss got caught up in the machinations of the state security in the GDR and found the love of his life. A true Berlin story from a divided Germany . epubli, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-7375-3537-3 , section 7. Operation “Lock”, p. 49 .
  11. ↑ Christa Gross, Peter Gross: Once Ku'damm and back. How a Swiss got caught up in the machinations of the state security in the GDR and found the love of his life. A true Berlin story from a divided Germany . epubli, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-7375-3537-3 , section 7. Operation “Lock”, p. 43 .
  12. ↑ Christa Gross, Peter Gross: Once Ku'damm and back. How a Swiss got caught up in the machinations of the state security in the GDR and found the love of his life. A true Berlin story from a divided Germany . epubli, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-7375-3537-3 , section 7. Operation “Lock”, p. 41 .
  13. ↑ Christa Gross, Peter Gross: Once Ku'damm and back. How a Swiss got caught up in the machinations of the state security in the GDR and found the love of his life. A true Berlin story from a divided Germany . epubli, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-7375-3537-3 , section 7. Operation “Lock”, p. 46 f .
  14. ↑ Christa Gross, Peter Gross: Once Ku'damm and back. How a Swiss got caught up in the machinations of the state security in the GDR and found the love of his life. A true Berlin story from a divided Germany . epubli, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-7375-3537-3 , Section 8.Preparation and arrest at the Bornholmerstrasse border crossing, p. 56 .
  15. ↑ Christa Gross, Peter Gross: Once Ku'damm and back. How a Swiss got caught up in the machinations of the state security in the GDR and found the love of his life. A true Berlin story from a divided Germany . epubli, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-7375-3537-3 , section 7. Operation “Lock”, p. 48 .
  16. ↑ Christa Gross, Peter Gross: Once Ku'damm and back. How a Swiss got caught up in the machinations of the state security in the GDR and found the love of his life. A true Berlin story from a divided Germany . epubli, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-7375-3537-3 , section 9.Stasi headquarters and custody in Hohenschönhausen, p. 68 .
  17. ↑ Christa Gross, Peter Gross: Once Ku'damm and back. How a Swiss got caught up in the machinations of the state security in the GDR and found the love of his life. A true Berlin story from a divided Germany . epubli, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-7375-3537-3 , section 10. "In the name of the people", p. 83 .
  18. ↑ Christa Gross, Peter Gross: Once Ku'damm and back. How a Swiss got caught up in the machinations of the state security in the GDR and found the love of his life. A true Berlin story from a divided Germany . epubli, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-7375-3537-3 , section 11. The judgment, p. 85 .
  19. ^ A b c Paul Widmer: The Swiss Legation in Berlin. Stories of a Difficult Diplomatic Post . Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich 1997, ISBN 3-85823-683-7 , pushed out of the GDR, p. 370 ff .
  20. ↑ Christa Gross, Peter Gross: Once Ku'damm and back. How a Swiss got caught up in the machinations of the state security in the GDR and found the love of his life. A true Berlin story from a divided Germany . epubli, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-7375-3537-3 , section 14. Culinary in Bautzen, p. 97 ff . (Description of individual offenses and arrests).
  21. ↑ Thomas Knellwolf: Your love was stronger than the Stasi. In: tagesanzeiger.ch. October 10, 2009, archived from the original on September 21, 2013 ; accessed on August 1, 2016 .
  22. ^ Traveling exhibitions at the Bautzen Memorial. The Gross case. An attempt to escape in the trunk from east to west. In: stsg.de. Retrieved August 1, 2016 .

Web links

literature

  • Christa Gross, Peter Gross: Once on Ku'damm and back. How a Swiss got caught up in the machinations of the state security in the GDR and found the love of his life. A true Berlin story from a divided Germany . epubli, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-7375-3537-3 .
  • Karl Wilhelm Fricke , Silke Klewin : Bautzen II. Special detention center under MfS control from 1956 to 1989 . Report and documentation. Ed .: Stiftung Sächsische Gedenkstätten to Remember the Victims of Political Tyranny (=  series of publications by the Stiftung Sächsische Gedenkstätten to Remember the Victims of Political Tyranny . Volume 8 ). Kiepenheuer, Leipzig 2001, ISBN 3-378-01056-8 , biographies. Christa Feurich and Peter Gross, S. 148 ff .
  • Susanne Hattig, Silke Klewin, Cornelia Liebold, Jörg Morré: Stasi prison Bautzen II. 1956 - 1989. Catalog for the exhibition . Ed .: Stiftung Sächsische Gedenkstätten to Remember the Victims of Political Tyranny (=  series of publications by the Stiftung Sächsische Gedenkstätten to Remember the Victims of Political Tyranny . Volume 13 ). Sandstein, Dresden 2008, ISBN 978-3-937602-98-1 (with attached DVD).
  • Paul Widmer : The Swiss Legation in Berlin. Stories of a Difficult Diplomatic Post . 1st edition. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich 1997, ISBN 3-85823-683-7 , pushed out of the GDR, p. 354-374 .
  • Peter Pragal , Eckart D. Stratenschulte : The cook who came out of the cold . In: The loudspeaker monologue and other stories from the divided Berlin . With a foreword by Klaus Schütz . No. 36149 . dtv, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-423-36149-2 , p. 117-122 .
  • Lars Strömsdörfer [i. e. Jürgen Engert]: To Ku'damm and back! The book for the film of the same name (=  general series . Volume 10544 ). Bastei-Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1984, ISBN 3-404-10544-3 (all persons have different names).