Chris Gueffroy facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Chris Gueffroy
|
|
|---|---|
Chris Gueffroy, at the Window of Remembrance, Berlin Wall Memorial, Bernauer Straße
|
|
| Born | 21 June 1968 Pasewalk, East Germany
|
| Died | 5 February 1989 (aged 20) |
| Cause of death | Shot by a guard whilst attempting to leave East Berlin |
| Body discovered | Britz district canal 52°27′32″N 13°28′08″E / 52.458914°N 13.469°E |
| Monuments | Chris Gueffroy memorial |
| Known for | Last to be killed by use of firearms at the Berlin Wall |
Chris Gueffroy (born June 21, 1968 – died February 6, 1989) was the last person to be shot and killed while trying to escape from East Berlin to West Berlin across the Berlin Wall. He was also the second-to-last person to die in an escape attempt from East Germany.
Contents
Chris Gueffroy's Early Life
Chris Gueffroy was born in Pasewalk, a town in what was then East Germany, on June 21, 1968. He had an older brother named Stefan.
In 1970, Chris moved to Schwedt. That same year, his parents, Karin and Allois Gueffroy, divorced. When he was five, he moved to Berlin with his mother and brother. Chris was very good at gymnastics and was sent to a special youth sports school.
After finishing school, Chris did not want to join the army as an officer. Because of this, he was not allowed to go to university. This meant he couldn't follow his dreams of becoming an actor or a pilot.
In 1985, he started training to be a waiter at a restaurant near the Schönefeld airport in Berlin. He later worked in several restaurants. Being a waiter gave him a good income and some freedom. However, he disliked the corruption he saw in the restaurant business.
Chris and his friend Christian Gaudian felt trapped in East Germany. They wanted the freedom to choose where they lived. In January 1989, Chris learned he would have to join the East German army in May. This made him and Christian decide to try and leave East Germany.
The Escape Attempt and Death
Chris and Christian decided to try and escape over the Berlin Wall. They thought the order to shoot people trying to cross the wall (called the Schießbefehl) had been stopped. They were wrong. They also mistakenly believed the Swedish Prime Minister was visiting East Berlin, which they thought might make the border guards less strict.
Their escape attempt happened on the night of February 5-6, 1989. They tried to cross the border along the Britz district canal in East Berlin. This was about two kilometers from Chris's home.
As they climbed the last metal fence, border guards from the NVA saw them and started shooting. Chris was hit twice in the chest and died right there in the border area. Christian Gaudian was badly hurt but survived. He was arrested and later sentenced to three years in prison for trying to cross the border illegally.
However, in September 1989, Christian was released on bail by the East German government. A month later, he was allowed to go to West Berlin.
Chris Gueffroy is often called the last person to die trying to cross the Berlin Wall. But he was actually the last person killed by a weapon. Another person, Winfried Freudenberg, died a month later in March 1989 when his homemade hot-air balloon crashed while he was trying to cross into West Berlin.
After Chris's Death
After Chris died, the East German government allowed his mother, Karin Gueffroy, to move to West Berlin. She was allowed to visit Chris's grave every week. But she had to promise not to talk to the media in West Berlin about what happened.
The four border guards who shot Chris were at first given awards and money. However, after German reunification (when East and West Germany became one country again), they were put on trial.
In January 1992, two of the guards were found not guilty. The judge said they "did not kill and did not intend to kill." A third guard received a suspended sentence, meaning he wouldn't go to jail unless he committed another crime. The fourth guard, Ingo Heinrich, who fired the shot that killed Chris, was first sentenced to three and a half years in jail. Later, a higher court reduced his sentence to a suspended two-year sentence.
In 2000, two former officials from the ruling party of East Germany were also tried for Chris's death and the deaths of two other young men. They were found not guilty at first. But in 2004, they were found guilty and given suspended sentences of 15 months each. The judge said the sentences were short because so much time had passed since the events. This was the last court case about deaths at the inner German border.
Memorials to Chris Gueffroy
On June 21, 2003, which would have been Chris's 35th birthday, a monument was put up for him. It is located on the bank of the Britz district canal, where he died. The monument was designed by a Berlin artist named Karl Biedermann.
One of the crosses at the White Crosses memorial near the Reichstag building in Berlin is also dedicated to Chris.
On August 13, 2010, a street in Berlin was renamed Chris-Gueffroy-Allee in his honor.
See also
- Sven Hüber
- List of deaths at the Berlin Wall
- Berlin Crisis of 1961
Images for kids
-
A commemorative tablet for Chris Gueffroy. The partly destroyed Berlin Wall is in the background, winter 1989/90.
-
The monument for Chris Gueffroy, put up in 2003 at the Britz district canal in Berlin.
-
A view of the Chris Gueffroy monument from a distance, showing what was Chris's "last view" as he tried to escape.
-
A memorial along the Berliner Mauerweg (Berlin Wall Trail) for Chris Gueffroy, near Chris-Gueffroy-Allee.
-
Another view of the Berliner Mauerweg memorial for Chris Gueffroy, looking towards Chris-Gueffroy-Allee.
