Wernhard Mispelhorn
_Horst_Frank3.jpg)
Wernhard Mispelhorn (born November 10, 1945 in Berlin ; † August 20, 1964 there ) was a victim of the Berlin Wall . Members of the GDR border troops fatally injured him while trying to escape .
Life
Wernhard Mispelhorn was born as the fourth child of a family living in Berlin-Buchholz . His parents divorced before the Wall was erected . He stayed with his mother with his brother. One of his sisters went to Hanover in 1960. After finishing school, he completed an apprenticeship as a plumber and worked as an assembly fitter outside of Berlin. In August 1964, his girlfriend was allowed to leave the GDR and go to her family in the West. Wernhard Mispelhorn wanted to follow her and planned to escape.
On the evening of August 17, 1964, he met two friends in a pub in Prenzlauer Berg. In the course of consuming alcohol, the three decided to investigate a rumor that it would be particularly easy to escape at one point in Berlin-Schönholz and drove there without any specific intention to flee. When they arrived at the garden colony in Schönholz, they raised a fence so that Wernhard Mispelhorn could crawl under it to see the border strip. Without warning, Wernhard Mispelhorn jumped up and ran towards the border. The escape was discovered by two border guards who shot at the fugitive until he collapsed. His two companions fled when the shots fell on him. The injured man was taken to the People's Police Hospital . Wernhard Mispelhorn died there on August 20th.
Wernhard Mispelhorn's mother was informed by the Ministry for State Security the day after the shooting . She was not allowed to visit her dying son. The Stasi obliged the family to keep the exact circumstances of death confidential - a tactic used by the Stasi to prevent information from reaching the West. In West Berlin there was no evidence of Mispelhorn's death. A police patrol who happened to be present during the escape could not make any closer observations, they only saw two border guards with a stretcher.
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 | Mispelhorn, Wernhard |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German casualty from the Berlin Wall |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 10, 1945 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Berlin |
| DATE OF DEATH | 20th August 1964 |
| Place of death | Berlin |