Anton Walzer

Anton Walzer (born April 27, 1902 in Weiler near Ravensburg, died October 8, 1962 in Berlin) is a fatal victim of the Berlin Wall, shot dead by soldiers of the German Forces Frontier during an attempt to escape to West Berlin.

Curriculum vitae

Born in Weiler near Ravensburg, Anton Walzer came to the painter's school. In the mid-twenties he married, soon to be father of two children. The family lived in the East Berliner Weißensee district. In 1945 he remarried, deciding to leave the GDR and travel to West Germany. In 1958 he returned with his wife to East Berlin because of severe mother-in-law. As a person with ties to the West he was henceforth "politically insecure", which was reflected in his professional life - despite employment opportunities at his last factory, he could henceforth work only on a lower level position. Dissatisfied with his position, he started drinking alcohol often, and his second marriage broke up. Escape

On the evening of October 8, 1962, Walzer went to the embankment of Spreewitz near the Oberbaumbrücke bridge, wanting to cross the river to West Berlin. Sneaking up to the moat, at around 22:15 he jumped off to the water. The fugitive noticed two soldiers of the border guard who immediately opened the fire, hitting the Gröbenufer quay in West Berlin, where the policeman also responded with a fire. Anton Walzer flew further west to the west coast of Berlin, still under fire from a German soldier, Arno O. Of the 18 bullets fired by him, one hit Walzer in the head, resulting in his death and drowning.

In support of the "murderers" shouting from the side of the Kreuzberg district on the opposite shore, GDR soldiers launched a search for corpses, which were unsuccessful due to darkness. The shot was taken only early in the morning at about 8:30 am with the help of water police officers and firefighters from the fire brigade. During the capture of the corpse used for exploration, the boat was set up to obstruct the observation and shooting of action from West Berlin - the order was introduced after the death of Peter Fechter in order to avoid negative publicity from the media. Immediately after the incident on the West Berlin berth, there was a multi-day protest against the border and the GDR regime.

According to the GDR authorities, the incident was deliberate provocation with the use of weapons, which justified the participants in the action of the soldiers. After the unification of Germany, proceedings were started against the shooter, which ended on August 12, 1994, by imprisonment for 18 months of imprisonment. Literature

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