Walter Heike

Walter Heike (born September 20, 1934 in Tauragė , † June 22, 1964 in Berlin ) was a victim of the Berlin Wall . During an attempt to escape, he was shot in the Invalidenfriedhof.

Life

Walter Heike was born in Tauragė , Lithuania in 1934 . The Lithuanian-German family settled in Wriezen in 1945 after relocating, returning and fleeing . Heike left school without a degree at the age of 16 and worked as a laborer at a company where he later completed an apprenticeship as a painter . In 1955 he was obliged to serve in the barracked People's Police for five years , which in 1956 became the National People's Army . After his release he accepted a job with the GDR customs administration and was employed in the border customs office in Friedrichstrasse . When he met a woman from West Berlin there , the customs administration removed him from service.

As a result, he made hints to his sister that inquiries would be made about him. In preparation for his escape, he made lists of items that he had to leave behind. He was looking for a suitable place to escape, which he found in a construction site on Scharnhorststrasse . He went here on the morning of June 22, 1964. Spotted by an MfS employee, he was asked to stop. Unimpressed by the two warning shots, Walter Heike jumped over a wall in the Invalidenfriedhof . He ran in the direction of the bank of the Spandau shipping canal . Four other border guards noticed him. One of the soldiers ran after him. When Walter Heike climbed the last wall in front of the canal, the soldier unlocked his AK-47 and fired several targeted shots at the fugitive. Walter Heike fell to the ground when he was shot in the abdomen and succumbed to his injuries on the spot. West Berlin police heard the gunshots and watched a person being carried away on a stretcher.

Web links

• Portrait of Walter Heike at chronik-der-mauer.de