Werner Weinhold

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Werner Weinhold (born August 8, 1949 in Dresden ) is a former NVA soldier and deserter who shot two GDR border guards while fleeing the GDR . Weinhold's murder was planned but not carried out by the GDR State Security in 1985.

Escape from the GDR

Werner Weinhold shot dead the two border guards Jürgen Lange and Klaus Peter Seidel on December 19, 1975 while fleeing the GDR on the Inner German border near Hildburghausen . Previously, the part due to car theft in 54 cases repeatedly convicted NVA -Wehrpflichtige Weinhold who committed a sexual offense even during his probationary period, from the tank regiment 14 " Karol Świerczewski " deserter become and had from the NVA barracks in Spremberg weapons, ammunition and a vehicle stolen. The border guards Seidel and Lange were apparently surprised by Weinhold's attack, their weapons remained secured.

In his first interrogation in the Federal Republic of Germany, Weinhold admitted to having shot - but after the soldiers opened fire on him. In the GDR, the corpses were autopsied on December 19th - the course of events was reconstructed based on the posture when the deadly bullets hit. Because Seidel's shoe had a bullet hole, the criminologists assumed that he was sitting during the fatal encounter. Jürgen Lange was lying on his stomach - presumably asleep - when the bullets hit him.

Legal processing

His case attracted public attention in 1975 and was the subject of several television programs and newspaper reports. In the Federal Republic of Germany he was charged with manslaughter , but acquitted in a first trial before the Essen District Court in December 1976. The defense had pleaded for self-defense. Following the appeal by the public prosecutor, the Federal Court of Justice overturned the judgment and referred the proceedings to the Hagen Regional Court . The GDR , which initially insisted on extradition and did not cooperate, absolutely wanted to avoid a new acquittal and therefore carried out an evidence preservation procedure at the Dresden District Court . The district court of Hagen sentenced Werner Weinhold to five and a half years imprisonment on December 1, 1978 for manslaughter in two cases and for armed vehicle theft. The court came to the conclusion that there was no self-defense, but that a reduction in the sentence should be taken into account because of reduced criminal liability. On July 7, 1982 Werner Weinhold was released early after three and a half years in prison.

Planned assassination by the State Security

After his release, the GDR planned to have him murdered by agents of the GDR State Security working in the West . For this purpose, there is an eleven-page "Implementation Concept for the 'Terrorist'" operational process ". In the conception of the MfS-Abwehr-Hauptabteilung I (HA I) from May 1985, three variants are proposed:

"1. Getting hold of the 'terrorist' and pretending to commit suicide using the track system of the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn local transport system located in the immediate vicinity of the approach route from home to work (track body or current trap by using the electrified route network). 2.… by shooting with a handgun Beretta - silenced - on the approach from home to work and subsequent removal of traces… 3.… by pretending to be a robbery ”. The murder plan was to be carried out by a "task force of 2 comrades from the area of ​​HA I (and) two operational employees".

The murder plan was not carried out. In an article in Die Welt this is justified by the fact that a Stasi helper in the West was exposed as a double agent .

Conviction for assault

On January 8, 2005, Weinhold shot a friend in his favorite pub in Marl and seriously injured him. Thereupon he was sentenced by the Essen District Court to 2½ years imprisonment for dangerous bodily harm .

literature

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Werner Weinhold's way to the west: Flight from the republic with a bloody end . In: Spiegel Online . August 9, 2002 ( spiegel.de [accessed July 10, 2018]).
  2. Werner Weinhold's way to the west: Flight from the republic with a bloody end . In: Spiegel Online . August 9, 2002 ( spiegel.de [accessed June 30, 2018]).
  3. Christoph Links:  Weinhold, Werner . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
  4. : “Seidel, what's going on?” In: Der Spiegel . tape 43 , October 23, 1978 ( spiegel.de [accessed July 10, 2018]).
  5. Ralf Georg Reuth: "Shoot, stab, burn, strangle ..." In: Welt online. September 28, 2003, accessed July 10, 2013 .