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Klaus Brueske

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Klaus Brueske (born September 14, 1938 in Berlin; died April 18, 1962 ibid) was a victim of the Berlin Wall. He tried to break through the sector border with a truck at the Heinrich-Heine-Straße border crossing point in Berlin. There, he suffered multiple gunshot wounds, and suffocated in the sand that was on the loading platform and entered the cab upon impacting a property wall on the West Berlin side of the border.

Life

Together with eight siblings, he grew up in Friedrichshain. Professionally, he worked as a driver for the AEG company in West Berlin. After the wall was built, he remained in East Berlin and found a new job as a truck driver. Unhappy with the situation in the GDR, he started to plan his escape with friends. They decided to break through the border with a truck.[1][2]

Breakthrough

On April 17, 1962, Brueske borrowed a truck and loaded it with sand. Klaus Brueske got behind the steering wheel, and Lothar M. sat beside him. Peter G. laid down in the back of the truck. After midnight, they drove about 70 km/h (44 MPH) to the border crossing, and successfully broke through the first two boom barriers. A border guard shot a total of 14 shots at the vehicle, which came only behind the border to stand at a property wall. The injured refugees were taken to the "Urbankrankenhaus" hospital. There, Brueske was pronounced dead. An autopsy revealed that he had suffered two gunshot wounds in the neck which didn't kill him immediately, then was smothered in sand which had entered the cab from behind upon impacting the property wall. The funeral, which his mother and siblings were prohibited by the East German government from attending, took place on the West Berlin "Friedhof Lübars" cemetery.[1][2]

After Reunification

After the German reunification, the Berlin public prosecutor at the Landgericht Berlin brought charges against the border guard, who fired the shots. The court sentenced him in 1998 to imprisonment of 14 months, which was converted to probation.[1][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c Short portrait of Klaus Brueske at chronik-der-mauer.de
  2. ^ a b c Short Portrait of Klause Brueske at Gedenkstätte-Berliner-Mauer.de, which includes the only known photo of Klaus Brueske

Literature

  • Christine Brecht: Klaus Brueske, in: Die Todesopfer an der Berliner Mauer 1961–1989. Links, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-86153-517-1, p. 79–81.
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