Victims of the Wall

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Peter Fechter

1944–1962

Peter Fechter, an 18-year-old bricklayer from Weissensee, was shot on 17 August 1962 while trying to escape over the Wall on Zimmerstrasse near Checkpoint Charlie. He lay at the foot of the Wall calling for help; when he was carried away 50 minutes later his cries had stopped, and he was declared dead soon afterwards.

Rust-brown steel column inscribed "Peter Fechter 1944–1962 … er wollte nur die Freiheit"
Peter Fechter memorial column on Zimmerstrasse near Checkpoint Charlie, photographed on 19 June 2005 Photo: Jens Lordan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Peter Fechter was born in Berlin on 14 January 1944 and grew up in modest circumstances in Weissensee, the third of four children. His father was a machine builder and his mother a sales assistant. Their only son left school at 14 and trained as a bricklayer, a trade much in demand in the post-war rebuilding. His eldest sister was married and lived in the western part of the city, and before the Wall the family is said to have visited her regularly. He was described as a quiet, unassuming young man, and his work assessment called him willing and hard-working.

At work he met Helmut K., a fellow apprentice, and from the beginning of 1962 both worked on the rebuilding of the former Kaiser-Wilhelm-Palais on Unter den Linden. According to Helmut K., they had long been thinking of escape and had explored the border installations, but had no concrete plan. The two seem hardly to have discussed their reasons, though each probably knew that the other dreamed of a better life in the West. Even the Stasi later found no evidence of a prepared escape. A Stasi file shows that his employer had refused him a trip to West Germany, which may have played a part. Helmut K. told the West Berlin police he had been a good colleague, sincere and honest.

According to Helmut K., while exploring the area the two noticed a ruined building on Schützenstrasse that housed a carpentry workshop and whose rear windows faced Zimmerstrasse, almost at the Wall. Two days later, during their lunch break, they decided on the spur of the moment not to return to the building site but to explore it instead. They found a window that had not been bricked up; hearing voices and fearing discovery, they jumped out and ran in their socks towards the Wall a few metres away.

It was early afternoon on 17 August 1962; the West Berlin police received the first report of shots at 2:12 p.m. Four border guards had opened fire without warning, firing 35 shots in all. Helmut K. climbed the Wall and forced his way through the barbed wire into the West; he later said Peter Fechter seemed frozen with shock and did not move when he called to him. According to the border brigade commander's report, Peter Fechter was hit as he jumped at the Wall, slid back and then stood behind a reinforced section of the Wall. By this account he had already given up his escape, yet instead of arresting him the guards moved to another position and kept firing until he collapsed. The Berlin court that tried two of the guards in 1997, drawing on the autopsy report, reached a different conclusion: he was hit by a single bullet, most probably while taking cover from the shots in the angle between the Wall and a buttress, and probably collapsed at once.

He lay badly wounded at the foot of the Wall, calling loudly for help, in view of many people on both sides. West Berlin police on ladders asked his name and threw bandages over, but did not dare to climb across; American military police from nearby Checkpoint Charlie feared that entering East Berlin territory might lead to a military clash. Fifty minutes passed, and his cries had already fallen silent by the time East German border troops carried him away behind a smokescreen; he was declared dead shortly afterwards at the People's Police Hospital. The same court concluded on the medical evidence that he could not have been saved even with immediate, optimal medical care, and said that much pointed to disorganisation and confusion among the officers responsible as the reason for the long delay.

Photographs of his dying were seen around the world, and his name became a lasting symbol of the border regime. In the East, officials blamed western police and photographers for the delay, and the chief state propagandist defended the guards on television on the same day that he was buried at the cemetery of the Resurrection Congregation in Weissensee. For decades his family suffered reprisals from the East German authorities.

In July 1990 his sisters filed a criminal complaint, and two of the guards who had fired were eventually convicted by the Berlin Regional Court in March 1997 of manslaughter and of the attempted manslaughter of his companion. One was sentenced to 21 months in prison; the other, who had been 20 at the time, to 20 months' youth custody; both sentences were suspended on probation. The court could not establish which guard had fired the fatal shot. His youngest sister, Ruth, joined the trial as co-plaintiff and, in a statement made through her lawyer, spoke of the exclusion and enforced silence the family had endured. She added that a legal view could lose sight of the fact that in her brother's death world history had fatally crossed paths with an individual fate. The inscription on his gravestone reads "Allen unvergessen" ("unforgotten by all").

White plaque headed "Berliner Gedenktafel" stating that Peter Fechter lived in this house until his death
Berlin memorial plaque for Peter Fechter at Behaimstrasse 11, Berlin-Weißensee, the house where he lived Photo: OTFW, Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Tall dark wooden cross in a planted bed before the graffiti-covered Berlin Wall
Cross for Peter Fechter from 1962 at the Berlin Wall, photographed on 1 December 1989 Photo: Aad van der Drift, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Dark granite gravestone engraved with a cross and "Peter Fechter … Allen unvergessen", with pansies in a pot
Gravestone of Peter Fechter ("Allen unvergessen") at the Auferstehungsfriedhof, Berlin-Weißensee Photo: Mutter Erde, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Read more

Also died on the sector border between Berlin-Kreuzberg and Berlin-Mitte

Sources

This profile is a summary written for this site from the biography in source 1, which also gives the full account with archival references. Facts taken from other sources are listed below with what they support.

  1. Christine Brecht, “Peter Fechter”, biography in Chronik der Mauer, Federal Agency for Civic Education, Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam and Deutschlandradio. Accessed 23 September 2026. Read online. The biography from which this profile was written, and the source of the dates and place of death.
  2. German version of the same biography. Accessed 23 September 2026. Read online.
  3. Judgment of the Berlin Regional Court (Landgericht Berlin) of 5 March 1997, excerpts in Chronik der Mauer. Accessed 29 September 2026. Read online. Source for: the court’s findings on how he was hit, that he could not have been saved, the delay, and the sentences.
  4. Hans-Hermann Hertle and Maria Nooke (eds.), The Victims at the Berlin Wall, 1961–1989: A Biographical Handbook. Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam and Berlin Wall Foundation, Berlin 2011. The printed handbook from which the online biography is taken.
  5. Hans-Hermann Hertle and Maria Nooke, “140 Victims at the Berlin Wall, 1961–1989” (list), Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam and Berlin Wall Foundation, August 2017. PDF. Used to cross-check names and dates.
  6. Hans-Hermann Hertle and Maria Nooke, “The Victims at the Berlin Wall, 1961–1989: Findings of a Research Project”, August 2017. PDF. Source of the classification into escapees, people with no intent to escape, and border soldiers.

Corrections

This profile was corrected on 24 and 28 September and 3 October 2026. Each round of corrections is described in the corrections log:

  • : Court outcomes checked against the German originals
    • Corrected who set the prosecution in motion: in July 1990 his sisters (plural) filed a criminal complaint; the text had said his sister “pressed charges”.
    • Corrected the sentences of 20 and 21 months for the two guards from “commuted to probation” to “suspended on probation”.
  • : All profiles and articles cross-checked against the German originals
    • Corrected the summary: the sources do not say he called for help for the full 50 minutes; his cries had stopped by the time he was carried away, 50 minutes after he was shot.
    • The statement that he had already given up his escape is now presented as following from the border brigade commander's report (“by this account”); the text had attributed it to the guards' own report.
    • Corrected the medium: the GDR programme Der schwarze Kanal, which defended the guards, was broadcast on television, not radio.
    • Corrected his family: he was the third of four children; the text had said he grew up with two older sisters.
    • The family's regular visits before the Wall are now hedged (“is said to have”), as in the German original (German: haben sollen).
    • Corrected the building through which the two friends planned their escape: it housed a carpentry workshop that was still in use, not a derelict former workshop; how they found it is now attributed to his friend Helmut K.
    • Helmut K.'s description of him is now given as he told it to the West Berlin police, with “sincere” (German: aufrichtig) instead of “warm-hearted”.
    • Corrected the response of the West Berlin police officers on ladders: they did not dare to climb across (German: wagen sie nicht), rather than “would not”.
    • Corrected who was convicted: two of the guards who had fired (German: zwei Schützen), not simply “two guards”.
    • His sister Ruth's statement in court is no longer shown as a translated direct quotation; she was his youngest sister and spoke through her lawyer.
  • : Every profile checked against all the sources
    • Added the 1997 court's finding, based on the autopsy report, that he was hit by a single bullet, most probably while taking cover by the Wall, and probably collapsed at once.
    • Added the 1997 court's finding that he could not have been saved even with immediate medical care, and that the long delay was probably due to disorganisation and confusion among the officers responsible.

Further reading

Image credits

  • Peter Fechter memorial column on Zimmerstrasse near Checkpoint Charlie, photographed on 19 June 2005. Jens Lordan, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.
  • Berlin memorial plaque for Peter Fechter at Behaimstrasse 11, Berlin-Weißensee, the house where he lived. OTFW, Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.
  • Cross for Peter Fechter from 1962 at the Berlin Wall, photographed on 1 December 1989. Aad van der Drift, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons.
  • Gravestone of Peter Fechter ("Allen unvergessen") at the Auferstehungsfriedhof, Berlin-Weißensee. Mutter Erde, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.

Cite this page

“Peter Fechter”, Victims of the Berlin Wall, Berlin Experiences. https://victimsofthewall.com/victims/fechter-peter/

Map

The pin position is based on the place of death described in source 1. Base map © OpenStreetMap contributors; course of the Wall in 1989 from Geoportal Berlin (dl-de/zero-2.0). Accessed 23 September 2026.