Articles

Longer pieces on questions people often ask about the deaths at the Berlin Wall. Each one draws on the same historical research as the profiles, and links to the people it mentions.

How Many People Died at the Berlin Wall? At least 140 people died at the Berlin Wall between 1961 and 1989: 101 escapees, 30 people with no intent to escape, a Soviet soldier and eight border guards.
Who Were the First Victims of the Berlin Wall? Ida Siekmann was the first person to die at the Berlin Wall, on 22 August 1961; Günter Litfin was the first to be shot dead. Twelve people died there in 1961.
Who Was the Last Person Killed at the Berlin Wall? Chris Gueffroy, shot on 5 February 1989, was the last person shot dead at the Berlin Wall; Winfried Freudenberg, who fell from a balloon, was the last to die.
Berlin Wall Victims Memorials: Where to Remember the Dead Where to remember the victims of the Berlin Wall: the Window of Remembrance, the White Crosses, memorial columns and the Fechter, Litfin and Gueffroy memorials.
The Children Who Died at the Berlin Wall Five West Berlin boys drowned in the Spree, where the whole river belonged to East Berlin; three East Berlin boys were killed by gunfire. Who they were.
Was There a Shoot-to-Kill Order at the Berlin Wall? East Germany denied it, but from 1961 orders told Wall guards to use firearms against escapees. How the Schießbefehl worked, and how it ended in April 1989.
Border Soldiers Killed at the Berlin Wall: The Eight Guards Eight East German border soldiers died on duty at the Berlin Wall between 1962 and 1980. Who they were, how they died, and how the GDR used their deaths.
Berlin Wall Shooting Trials: Guards, Generals and the Politburo After 1990, Berlin prosecutors charged 246 people over violence at the Berlin Wall and 132 were convicted. Guards, generals, the Politburo and the ECHR.
Who Was Peter Fechter? The 18-Year-Old Shot at the Berlin Wall Peter Fechter, an 18-year-old bricklayer from East Berlin, was shot at the Wall near Checkpoint Charlie on 17 August 1962 and lay there wounded for 50 minutes.
Who Drowned at the Berlin Wall? 24 of the 140 Berlin Wall victims drowned: 18 escapees in the Spree, Havel, Teltow Canal and lakes, and six with no intent to escape, five of them children.
Who Died at the Berlin Wall on Bernauer Strasse? Five people died after escape attempts on Bernauer Strasse in 1961–62; a border soldier was fatally shot nearby in 1964. Their stories and the memorial today.