# Walter Heike (1934–1964)

> Walter Heike, a 29-year-old painter and former customs officer, was shot dead on 22 June 1964 after crossing the grounds of the Invaliden Cemetery, as he tried to climb the Wall on the bank of the Spandauer Schifffahrts Canal.

- Born: 20 September 1934
- Died: 22 June 1964
- Age at death: 29
- Cause of death: Shot
- Circumstances: Died trying to escape
- Place and circumstances as recorded: On the grounds of the Invaliden Cemetery; At the sector border between Berlin-Mitte and Berlin-Tiergarten
- Map position (approximate): 52.53189, 13.37027
- Area: inner-city border between East and West Berlin
- Web page: https://victimsofthewall.com/victims/heike-walter/

## Story

Walter Heike was born in 1934 in Taurage (Tauroggen), Lithuania, the elder of Marie and Rudolf Heike's two children; his father was a carpenter. For generations the family had been part of a small German community in the Baltic states. The war brought resettlement, return and flight, until in July 1945 he arrived with his mother and sister in Wriezen in Brandenburg. His father never came back and was listed as missing.

He left school at 16 without a certificate, worked for a time for a firm in Strausberg that painted for theatres and advertising, and then did an apprenticeship as a painter. In early 1955 he enlisted for five years in the Garrisoned Police, which became the National People's Army, and after his service he was given a post in the East Berlin customs administration. On 5 February 1964 he was dismissed, reportedly because he had met a woman from West Berlin while on duty at the Friedrichstrasse customs office. He then lived with his mother in Bad Freienwalde and went back to work as a painter. In a résumé written soon afterwards he presented himself as confident, mentioning his singing in a choir, his work designing wall newspapers and club rooms, his wish to go on learning and his many cultural interests.

The files do not show when he began to think of escape, or whether, as the East German authorities claimed, he wanted to be with the woman from West Berlin. There are strong signs that he planned it: according to his sister, on his last visit in early June 1964 he hinted that inquiries would soon be made about him; he carried documents and cash, and he left behind a notebook carefully listing the books he would have to leave.

Early on 22 June 1964 he entered the border area from a building plot on Scharnhorststrasse, near the Sandkrug Bridge. A Stasi guard at the government hospital next door ordered him to stop and fired two warning shots, but he kept going, got over the Invaliden Cemetery wall and made for the canal bank. According to military records, at around 5.30 a.m. four border soldiers noticed him. An NCO went after him as he was trying to pull himself over the last wall in front of the canal embankment, knelt and fired from 25 to 30 metres. A bullet struck Walter Heike in the abdomen, and he presumably died at the scene. West Berlin police across the canal heard shots and saw a seemingly lifeless person carried away on a stretcher, but could not see what had happened.

Two days later a Stasi officer visited and questioned his mother and sister; when his sister insisted on knowing why, she was told only that he had been fatally injured in Berlin through his own fault; they were not told he had died at the border. His sister's attempts to learn where and how he had died came to nothing. When his last employer asked for a death certificate, the prosecutor in charge of the case told the employer that the family had no claim to death benefits because the state had paid for the burial. In fact, the burial had been paid for with the money Walter Heike was carrying when he died.

## Sources

1. Christine Brecht, “Walter Heike”, 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/180520/heike-walter
2. German version of the same biography. Accessed 23 September 2026. https://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/todesopfer/171395/heike-walter
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: “Walter Heike”, Victims of the Berlin Wall, Berlin Experiences. https://victimsofthewall.com/victims/heike-walter/