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Was ist am 13. August 1961 geschehen? Building_of the Wall

Memorial for 's Victims on Anniversary

Aug 13, 2012

REMEMBERING PETER FECHTER AND OTHER VICTIMS OF THE BERLIN WALL

Fifty years ago, one year after the construction of the Berlin Wall, an 18-year-old East German was shot while trying to escape to the West and bled to death in one of the most dreadful atrocities on the East­ West border.

The Berlin Wall's victims were honored on Monday, August 13, with a service in the on Bernauer Strasse, where politicians, school groups and the family members of those who attempted or succeeded in crossing the wall gathered. Guests laid wreaths on the wall memorial after the ceremony, which was attended by Berlin Mayor and Interior Minister Frank Henkel.

The borders leading to were sealed off at the behest of the East German state (GDR) on August 13, 1961 , and a fence along the border was constructed. The wall through the city was roughly 43 kilometers long, while the outer wall that sealed off the border to West Berlin was nearly 112 kilometers long.

Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomes a new research project on the victims of the former border between the German states, government Spokesman Steffen Seibert said. One of the research project's main goals is to determine exactly how many people were killed because of the wall. According to current estimates, 136 people died trying to flee to West Berlin.

The Protestant Minister Manfred Fischer referred to the wall in his prayer as an object of destruction, saying that it had not only prevented people from being free but that it had also systematically disrupted the city. The minister read from the biography of Peter Fechter, whose tragic death became a symbol of the recklessness of the East German border guards as well as the unbroken spirit of defiance of many of the people in East , reminding those present about the sacrifice made by those trying to flee the GDR.

Fechter became known after he was shot and left to die in no-man's land on August 17, 1962. "The death of peaceful people at the wall was a blatant injustice. As witnesses of the wall, they also helped