Victims of the Wall

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Siegfried Widera

1941–1963

Siegfried Widera, a 22-year-old East German border soldier and former lathe operator, was struck down by escaping workers at the Massante Bridge between Treptow and Neukölln on 23 August 1963 and died of his injuries on 8 September 1963.

Black-and-white portrait of a young man with short dark hair in a uniform jacket, with a printed caption below
Siegfried Widera in uniform; photograph on his memorial stele near the Massantebrücke in Berlin-Baumschulenweg (date of the original photograph unknown) Photo: Assenmacher, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Siegfried Widera was born on 12 February 1941 in Silesia and grew up after the war in the Mansfelder Land, on the edge of the Harz Mountains. He worked as a lathe operator, and according to official reports he joined the border service voluntarily in October 1960. Just weeks before his death he had married, and his wife was expecting a child.

He served as a senior lance corporal (Stabsgefreiter) in the 5th company of Border Regiment 42, which guarded the border between Treptow and Neukölln. On the evening of 23 August 1963, aged 22, he was posted with his junior guard, a lance corporal, at the Massante Bridge, which was closed off by the Wall and barbed wire. Excavation work for sewage pipes was under way on the East Berlin bank of the canal, and workers were often there during the day. At around 7 p.m., although work had stopped early in the evening, three men in work clothes began tinkering with an excavator; the two guards apparently thought nothing of it. The men were employees of the excavation company who had had access to the border area for weeks and hoped to use it to escape.

After talking with the guards, the men decided they had to knock them out to get past. Siegfried Widera and his fellow guard were struck with fists and an iron rod, and the three ran across the bridge and reached West Berlin unhurt despite shots from the second guard. Siegfried Widera had suffered a fracture at the base of his skull. He died on 8 September 1963 in the Köpenick Municipal Hospital, probably without ever regaining consciousness.

East German media blamed his death, without basis, on a West Berlin escape-helper group, and a propaganda version of events was repeated at every commemoration. Internally, however, the border troop leadership concluded that the two guards had disobeyed orders and been too trusting. He was promoted posthumously to the NCO rank of Unteroffizier. At a public ceremony in Hettstedt, his widow was handed a letter of condolence from Walter Ulbricht, and he was buried with military honours in Gorenzen, her home town.

In West Germany an investigation was opened against the three men. They said they had never meant to hurt anyone; one said it was a great misfortune for him to hear that a young man was said to have died through his actions, and that it weighed heavily on him. The investigation was discontinued in April 1969, as it could not be proven that they had committed intentional or joint manslaughter. After the East German state ceased to exist the case was reopened against the other guard, who had fired despite a concussion, but since it had to be assumed, on the basis of the files, that he had been only half conscious at the time, he was not charged either.

Dark panel with a black-and-white portrait above a German and English text headed 'Siegfried Widera'
Memorial panel for Siegfried Widera at the Massantebrücke in Berlin-Johannisthal, photographed in 2019 Photo: OTFW, Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Tall orange column inscribed 'Georg Feldhahn · Siegfried Widera' and two grey posts with portrait panels, in front of a graffiti-covered wall
Memorial steles for Georg Feldhahn and Siegfried Widera at the Massantebrücke in Berlin-Johannisthal, photographed in 2019 Photo: OTFW, Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Information panel with an aerial photograph of a canal with marked points, above text
Map panel at the Massantebrücke marking the site where Siegfried Widera was knocked down, Berlin-Johannisthal Photo: OTFW, Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Read more

Also died on the sector border between Berlin-Neukölln and Berlin-Treptow

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, “Siegfried Widera”, 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. Deputy commander (rear services) of the 4th Border Brigade, “Abschlußbericht zum gewaltsamen schweren Grenzdurchbruch im Grenzabschnitt 1 des GR-42, WG Massantebrücke”, 24 August 1963 (BArch, VA-07/6002, Bl. 14–19), transcript published on Chronik der Mauer. Accessed 5 October 2026. Read online. Source for: his birth on 12 February 1941 in Silesia, his trade as a lathe operator, his service from October 1960, the three men in work clothes at the excavator, and the finding that the guards had been too trusting.
  4. East Berlin People's Police, Inspection Treptow, appendix to daily report no. 235, 23 August 1963, “Überfall auf Grenzposten” (Polizeihistorische Sammlung, Der Polizeipräsident in Berlin), transcript published on Chronik der Mauer. Accessed 5 October 2026. Read online. Source for: his rank and unit at the Massante Bridge, his fellow guard, a lance corporal, and his admission to the Köpenick hospital with a head injury.
  5. “Siegfried Widera (DDR-Grenzer)” [removed memorial stone], Gedenktafeln in Berlin (Aktives Museum Faschismus und Widerstand in Berlin / Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand). Accessed 5 October 2026. Read online. Source for: the propaganda version blaming West Berlin agents, his posthumous rank of Unteroffizier, his date of death and his burial in Gorenzen.
  6. “Die Augen feucht vor Wut”, Der Spiegel 28/1991, 7 July 1991. Accessed 5 October 2026. Read online. Source for: that he was killed by civilian escapees, not by West Berlin agents.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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:

Further reading

Image credits

  • Siegfried Widera in uniform; photograph on his memorial stele near the Massantebrücke in Berlin-Baumschulenweg (date of the original photograph unknown). Assenmacher, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.
  • Memorial panel for Siegfried Widera at the Massantebrücke in Berlin-Johannisthal, photographed in 2019. OTFW, Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.
  • Memorial steles for Georg Feldhahn and Siegfried Widera at the Massantebrücke in Berlin-Johannisthal, photographed in 2019. OTFW, Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.
  • Map panel at the Massantebrücke marking the site where Siegfried Widera was knocked down, Berlin-Johannisthal. OTFW, Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.

Cite this page

“Siegfried Widera”, Victims of the Berlin Wall, Berlin Experiences. https://victimsofthewall.com/victims/widera-siegfried/

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.