Willi Marzahn
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Willi Marzahn (born June 3, 1944 in Jüterbog , † March 19, 1966 in Berlin ) was a victim of the Berlin Wall . He died while trying to escape in a shooting with members of the GDR border troops .
Life
The trained locomotive fitter lived with his wife and child in Schwedt / Oder and worked there as a machine fitter in the then oil processing plant (EVW). In 1964 he volunteered to serve in the National People's Army for three years. Contrary to his expectations, he could not do the service near his home town, but was transferred to Stahnsdorf near Berlin. Fearing that his wife would divorce him if he continued to stay away from home, he made several applications for transfer, including a resignation. The army leadership rejected all of his requests. Finally, Willi Marzahn himself advised his wife to divorce without giving any reason.
Together with another soldier, he had planned the escape to the West, which they wanted to implement on March 18, 1966. During their off duty they first visited a restaurant in Potsdam and then returned to their barracks. There Willi Marzahn gained access to the armory and handed his companion two AK-47s and three Makarow pistols, including ammunition, out of the window. Armed, the two soldiers set off on foot from the barracks to the border at Kohlhasenbrück .
They reached the border around 6 a.m., overcame a signal fence, and killed two guard dogs. They triggered a flare at another signal system and thus drew the attention of the crews of two watchtowers 250 and 500 m away. A shooting developed between the fugitives and the border guards, during which Willi Marzahn was injured by a shot in the head. His companion was able to climb over the anti- tank barrier and escape to West Berlin through the last fence. Willi Marzahn died around 8 a.m. in an army hospital nearby.
Willi Marzahn's death could not be dealt with legally, as neither the Ministry for State Security nor the Berlin public prosecutor's office could determine after 1990 who fired the fatal shots. Two autopsies came to different results: first a rifle shot was accepted from a great distance, then a pistol shot from close range. The MfS suggested suicide.
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 | Marzahn, Willi |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German casualty from the Berlin Wall |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 3, 1944 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Jueterbog |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 19, 1966 |
| Place of death | Berlin |