# Dietmar Schwietzer (1958–1977)

> Dietmar Schwietzer, an 18-year-old newly qualified communications worker and radio enthusiast from Magdeburg, was shot dead by border soldiers on 16 February 1977 near Berliner Allee, between Schönwalde and Spandau, a few metres short of the Wall.

- Born: 21 February 1958
- Died: 16 February 1977
- Age at death: 18
- Cause of death: Shot
- Circumstances: Died trying to escape
- Place and circumstances as recorded: Near Berliner Allee; On the outer ring between Schönwalde (Nauen district) and Berlin-Spandau
- Map position (approximate): 52.59685, 13.15523
- Area: outer ring between West Berlin and the GDR
- Web page: https://victimsofthewall.com/victims/schwietzer-dietmar/

## Story

Dietmar Schwietzer was born on 21 February 1958 in Magdeburg and grew up with his parents and a sister. Radios fascinated him from childhood: he mended sets for friends and neighbours and built his own station, which could not transmit but could listen in to international amateur radio. Through the radio section of the pre-military Society for Sport and Technology he was able to transmit, and the international radio network became his private world; neither his parents nor his teachers knew of his contacts.

After the 10th grade he trained as a communications worker at the German postal service's district office in Magdeburg. Less interested in discos than other apprentices, he spent his time with his equipment. Because he seemed so well adjusted, and because the Stasi saw a use for him as a communications specialist, he was chosen for the Stasi's "Felix Dzierzynski" guard regiment, where he was to start as a radio operator on 1 April 1977.

On 15 February 1977 he received his trade certificate and proudly showed it to his father, then left for a party at the "International" hotel in Magdeburg, where he stayed only briefly and drank a glass of cola. No one knew what he intended. Thirty years later his parents still wondered whether he was trying to leave everything behind after his girlfriend's sudden death earlier that year, or to escape recruitment by the Stasi. He set off on his motorcycle with his documents, his savings and 110 West marks from his grandparents in West Germany, rode about 100 kilometres in near-freezing cold to Hennigsdorf and continued by bus.

He crossed the Niederneuendorfer Canal from Schönwalde and, early on 16 February, crept across a field to the border. After watching for a long time through binoculars, he went through the inner fence and a dog run, and shortly after 7 a.m. set off an alarm at the signal fence. As he ran towards the Wall, 30 metres away, four soldiers in two watchtowers fired 91 shots. Three bullets struck him a few metres from the Wall; a shot to the back of his head killed him. The guards pulled him into the anti-vehicle trench, out of sight of the West. The border troops later used his case in training as a good example, criticising only the amount of ammunition used.

He was buried at the Neustädter Cemetery on 23 February under Stasi observation. His parents protested at the highest level: on 10 April 1977 his father sent the funeral bill to Erich Honecker and demanded that his son's killer pay it. The family was then kept under constant surveillance, questioned many times and threatened with prosecution if news of the death reached the West. Two months later the Stasi paid the bill of 383.40 marks, at first intending this only as a temporary measure, but in the end it did not reclaim the sum from the family.

In mid-December 1989 his parents demanded clarification and compensation; the East German military state prosecutor later arranged for them to receive the second half of his life insurance, which had been held back, but their other claims came to nothing. One of the four soldiers had died; on 29 November 1995 the Potsdam Regional Court gave the other three suspended youth sentences of one year and three months each for joint manslaughter. At the time each had received a badge for exemplary border service and a bonus of 150 marks; none of them, they credibly told the court, had been proud of it.

## Sources

1. Martin Ahrends/Udo Baron/Hans-Hermann Hertle, “Dietmar Schwietzer”, 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/180588/schwietzer-dietmar
2. German version of the same biography. Accessed 23 September 2026. https://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/todesopfer/171331/schwietzer-dietmar
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: “Dietmar Schwietzer”, Victims of the Berlin Wall, Berlin Experiences. https://victimsofthewall.com/victims/schwietzer-dietmar/