Horst Kutscher (July 5, 1931 – January 15, 1963) was a German coal apprentice and the 36th person to die trying to cross the Berlin Wall from East Berlin to West Berlin.
Horst Kutscher | |
|---|---|
_Horst_Kutscher_(cropped).jpg) | |
| Born | Horst Kutscher July 5, 1931 Berlin, Weimar Germany |
| Died | January 15, 1963 (aged 31) |
| Occupation(s) | auto mechanic, informant, construction worker, coal merchant |
| Known for | being shot while escaping East Germany |
Early life
editKutscher was born on July 5, 1931, in Treptow, the fourth of 13 children to a mechanical engineer and a flower seller.[1]
Biography
editIn April 1956, he fled to West Germany, with his wife and children later following him. A year later, he and his family returned to Berlin-Treptow. He worked as a "border-crosser" in the West until the border was closed in August 1961.[2]
Death
editOn January 15, 1963, at the border near Rudower Strasse at the sector border between Berlin-Treptow and Berlin-Neukölln, Kutscher slid under the barbed-wire fence and then along the security trenches with 25 meters left when he was fatally shot in the head.[3][2]
After the collapse of East Germany, Kutscher’s ex-wife was a witness in the trial against the guard who shot Kutscher. In August 1997, the former guard was sentenced to one year and three months' probation.[2]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Baron, Udo (24 December 2018). The Victims at the Berlin Wall 1961-1989: A Biographical Handbook. Ch. Links Verlag. ISBN 9783861536321 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b c "Chronicle of the Wall: Victims at the wall -". Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam.
- ^ Kephart, Beth (1 April 2014). Going Over. Chronicle Books. ISBN 9781452132341 – via Google Books.
External links
edit
Media related to Horst Kutscher at Wikimedia Commons- Berlin Wall Memorial - Horst Kutscher
