# Peter Göring (1940–1962)

> Peter Göring, a 21-year-old East German border policeman, was killed by a ricochet bullet on 23 May 1962 during an exchange of fire at the Spandauer Schifffahrts Canal near the Sandkrug Bridge, as guards shot at a 14-year-old fugitive.

- Born: 28 December 1940
- Died: 23 May 1962
- Age at death: 21
- Cause of death: Shot
- Circumstances: East German border soldier killed on duty
- Place and circumstances as recorded: At the Spandauer Schifffahrts Canal near the Sandkrug Bridge; On the sector border between Berlin-Mitte and Berlin-Tiergarten
- Map position (approximate): 52.52783, 13.37385
- Area: inner-city border between East and West Berlin
- Web page: https://victimsofthewall.com/victims/goering-peter/

## Story

The official East German version of Peter Göring's life, publicised after his death, was vague and portentous. According to it, he was born in December 1940 into a working-class family in Dresden. His father died in the war, and Peter grew up in the children's home at Weisser Hirsch in Dresden. After school he trained as a cast fettler and then took up agricultural work, following the party's call for young workers to go to the land. In April 1960 he apparently volunteered for service with the country's armed forces, and in June of the following year he was posted to the border in Berlin.

On 23 May 1962 members of the 1st Border Brigade opened fire at the Spandauer Schifffahrts Canal on Wilfried Tews, a 14-year-old boy from Erfurt who was trying to escape. The boy was badly wounded before he could be pulled onto the western bank. Because the guards' bullets were striking West Berlin territory, police officers there gave the boy covering fire. Files later opened show that Peter Göring, against the clear orders of his post leader, had left his watchtower to find a better firing position and was himself firing aimed shots at the boy, in breach of rules forbidding fire at children or towards the West. According to West Berlin investigation files, a police officer on the other bank noticed him at that moment; the officer later stated that he had felt threatened and had returned fire.

When the shooting stopped, Peter Göring was found dead between two walls that closed off the riverbank. The forensic examination in East Berlin found that he had not been hit directly: the fatal bullet had ricocheted off one of the walls. He was 21 years old.

His death was politically explosive. The East German leadership blamed the West Berlin Senate, published a photograph of his body and called him a murder victim, while presenting him as a model soldier who had loved life. He was promoted posthumously from lance corporal to sergeant and given a state funeral in Luchau in Saxony, where his gravestone accused the West Berlin police of shooting him. His mother was drawn into the official remembrance of her son and took an active part in it for the rest of her life. In West Berlin, the mayor of Berlin, Willy Brandt, in a radio address backed the police officers who had come to the aid of the defenceless fugitive, but also expressed regret at the border policeman's death, calling him a new victim of the Wall and saying that the blame for his fate lay with those who had built the Wall.

Official records from both East and West later showed that the murder accusation was a myth. After the case was reopened in the 1990s, proceedings against the West Berlin policeman believed to have fired the fatal shot were discontinued in July 1991, on the grounds that he had acted in self-defence and to protect the fugitive. In June 1996 three former East German guards were charged with the attempted manslaughter of Wilfried Tews, but the trial could not establish whether the hits had come from them or from other guards involved at the time, and they were acquitted. The court noted in its judgment that the shots which injured the boy, who lived with the consequences for the rest of his life, might also have come from Peter Göring, though this could not be proven.

## Sources

1. Christine Brecht, “Peter Göring”, biography in Chronik der Mauer, Federal Agency for Civic Education, Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam and Deutschlandradio. Accessed 23 September 2026. https://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/en/victims/180606/goering-peter
2. German version of the same biography. Accessed 23 September 2026. https://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/todesopfer/171430/goering-peter
3. 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.
4. 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. https://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/system/files/dokument_pdf/2017_08_08_140%20Victims_at_the_Wall_List_Internet_engl_FINAL.pdf
5. Hans-Hermann Hertle and Maria Nooke, “The Victims at the Berlin Wall, 1961–1989: Findings of a Research Project”, August 2017. https://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/system/files/dokument_pdf/2017_08_08_Hertle_Nooke_140_Victims_Berlin_Wall_FINAL_0.pdf

This profile is a summary written for this site; every fact in it is taken from source 1.

Cite as: “Peter Göring”, Victims of the Berlin Wall, Berlin Experiences. https://victimsofthewall.com/victims/goering-peter/