Rolf-Dieter Kabelitz
Rolf-Dieter Kabelitz (born June 23, 1951 , † January 30, 1971 in Hennigsdorf ) was a victim of the Berlin Wall . While trying to escape, he was shot twice by a member of the GDR border troops and died 23 days later in hospital.
Life
After his parents divorced, Rolf-Dieter Kabelitz grew up with his mother and her second husband in Potsdam. He didn't get along with his stepfather, who was a captain in the People's Police. After school, Kabelitz began an apprenticeship as a lathe operator in the VEB Lokomotivwerk "Karl Marx", which he broke off. On the mediation of his parents, he got a job at the Warnow shipyard in Rostock in August 1969 . He resigned this position on January 10, 1971. There was a conflict with his parents over the dismissal.
On the morning of January 4, 1971, he left his parents' house under the pretext of going to Rostock for the late shift. He didn't get there. Three days later he took the S-Bahn to Oranienburg. He ran back along the S-Bahn line towards Hohen Neuendorf. On the way he turned into the border area at Bergefelde. In the darkness he overcame an obstacle that was equipped with a signal device and triggered an alarm. At first, Rolf-Dieter Kabelitz continued on his way to West Berlin, but turned back when he realized that the border guards were chasing him with dogs. He ran back to the S-Bahn line, threw away his bag, and took cover in the wooded area. The border guards were able to pick up his tracks in the closed snow cover and surrounded him. A first lieutenant shot several times aimed at the refugee, who was no longer moving towards the border. Two bullets hit Rolf-Dieter Kabelitz in the pelvis and thigh.
Rolf-Dieter Kabelitz was taken to the Hennigsdorf hospital. In the hospital, the Ministry of State Security took over the case. The first interrogation began at around 2 a.m. with the seriously injured man, who was in mortal danger due to an intestinal penetration. After an operation on January 9th, he was questioned by the Oranienburg district court director and taken into custody. Kabelitz stated that he accidentally got into the border area. An internal infection that spread throughout his body and led to two more surgeries triggered pneumonia, which he died of on the evening of January 30, 1971. His body was cremated. The relatives were not allowed to visit him in the hospital or say goodbye to the body.
An NVA lieutenant who had fled said in September 1971 that a refugee was arrested unharmed after using firearms in January. After German reunification, the Central Investigation Team for Government and Association Crime began investigations in July 1991. The first lieutenant who fired died in 1986. Since no other border guard could be proven to be at fault, the proceedings were discontinued in August 1994.
literature
- Hans-Hermann Hertle , Maria Nooke : The victims of the Berlin Wall 1961 - 1989. A biographical handbook. Edited by the Center for Contemporary History Potsdam and the Berlin Wall Foundation. Links, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-86153-517-1 .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kabelitz, Rolf-Dieter |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German casualty from the Berlin Wall |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 23, 1951 |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 30, 1971 |
| Place of death | Hennigsdorf |