Horst Kutscher
Born
Horst Kutscher

(1931-07-05)July 5, 1931
Berlin, Weimar Germany
DiedJanuary 15, 1963(1963-01-15) (aged 31)
Rudowerstrasse, border between Treptow and Neukölln
Occupation(s)auto mechanic, informant, construction worker, coal merchant
Known forbeing shot while escaping East Germany

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.

Early life

Kutscher was born on July 5, 1931, in Trepkow, the fourth of 13 children to a mechanical engineer and a flower seller.[1]

Biography

In 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

On January 15, 1963, at the border near Rudower Strasse at the sector border between Berlin-Treptow and Berlin-NeuköllnKutscher, 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

References

  1. ↑ Baron, Udo (24 December 2018). The Victims at the Berlin Wall 1961-1989: A Biographical Handbook. Ch. Links Verlag. ISBN 9783861536321 – via Google Books.
  2. 1 2 3 "Chronicle of the Wall: Victims at the wall -". Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam.
  3. ↑ Kephart, Beth (1 April 2014). Going Over. Chronicle Books. ISBN 9781452132341 – via Google Books.
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