Werner Kühl

Memorial plaque , Chris-Gueffroy-Allee 20, in Berlin-Baumschulenweg

Werner Kühl (born January 10, 1949 in Berlin ; † July 24, 1971 there ) was a victim of the Berlin Wall . The wall jumper climbed with a friend on the Britzer branch canal over the border security systems to settle in the GDR. Members of the GDR border troops mistook the two for refugees and shot them under fire.

Life

Werner Kühl grew up in West Berlin. After school he worked as a gardener, but was repeatedly unemployed. At times he did not have a permanent residence. He has committed several offenses. In 1968 he met his future companion Bernd Langer. In July 1971 they worked together in the transport industry and lived in a boarding house. They talked about moving to the GDR. On July 24, 1971, they decided to cross the border, drove with their luggage to Neukölln and hiked to the Britzer Zweigkanal. Once there, they swam to the other bank and waited right by the expanded metal fence until darkness fell.

At around 10 p.m. they climbed over the fence and ran towards the hinterland. An allotment gardener spotted the two of them as they threw a blanket over the expanded metal fence - to protect themselves from the sharp edges - and alerted border guards at a nearby watchtower. The border guards thought the two wall jumpers were refugees from the GDR and opened fire. Werner Kühl managed to cross the border strip, reached a locked gate on the other side and decided to turn back. He was hit in the shoulder by a bullet, which also penetrated the lungs and two arteries. He died on the spot. Bernd Langer suffered gunshot wounds to his shoulder, thigh and arm.

From the West Berlin side, police officers and citizens watched as the border guards removed the body of Kühl and the injured Langer. They also assumed that they were GDR refugees. Corresponding media reports on the western side therefore also spoke of a failed attempt to escape. A lieutenant colonel of the border troops who was in civilian clothes outside of his service was identified as the third refugee. The reports of the West press were rejected by the GDR press agency ADN , which reported on border provocations by two West Berliners. Kühl's death was kept a secret and inquiries from the west were not answered. The West Berlin police withdrew their thesis that the attempt to escape had failed and launched the legend that Kühl and Langer wanted to bring their friends from the GDR. Bernd Langer was released from pretrial detention on August 30, 1971 and taken to West Berlin with Werner Kühl's urn by the East Berlin lawyer Wolfgang Vogel . Bernd Langer made it clear that they had no girlfriends in the GDR.

Shortly after the incident, the two border guards were awarded the medal for exemplary border service . After the fall of the Wall, the still living gunman had to answer in a wall shooter trial in 2000 and was sentenced to 14 months probation for complicity in manslaughter.

literature

• Hans-Hermann Hertle, Maria Nooke : The victims of the Berlin Wall 1961–1989. A biographical manual . Ch. Links, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-86153-517-1 .

Web links

Commons : Werner Kühl  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Portrait of Werner Kühl at chronik-der-mauer.de