Talk:Killing of Peter Fechter

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User pages discussion

There was some discussion between myself and de:Benutzer:MKI on our user pages regarding the source of facts for this article. I am copying it here for the record. ~~,,,~~Trainspotter~~,,,~~ 17:41, 11 Oct 2004 (UTC)

From de:Benutzer:MKI

Hello, I just read your message on de:Diskussion:Peter_Fechter and was quite surprised that there is an article about this very German topic on the English Wikipedia.

The German discussion is mainly about "neutral point of view". The problem is, that the GDR did not report the complete truth, but altered the facts to better fit the communistic ideology. Most probably, also the western reporting was biased. So, different people repeatedly changed the article to fit the facts accordingly to what they were told, and a discussion started about what is true and what isn't.

Recently I added some facts to the acticle that I read in a book about the Berlin wall. To my perception the German article is quite neutral now, maybe you want to take over the additions to the English article.

There are some facts in your English article that I did not know before. I searched the web for references, to no avail. I need some proof to add something to the German article. So I would be interested in the source of:

"The plan was to hide in a carpenter's workshop near the wall and, after observing the border guards from there, to jump out of a window" (I found something on that, but it is about an "empty abandoned house" and not a "carpenter's workshop")

"Fechter was shot in the pelvis" (my book says that he was hit in the back and the belly)

"according to a report in Time Magazine, a US second-lieutenant on the scene received specific orders from the US Commandant in West Berlin to stand firm and do nothing" (This is indeed an interesting addition to the comment of the GDR commander. Is there an online version of this article?)

"In March 1997 two former East German guards Rolf Friedrich and Erich Schreiber faced manslaughter charges for Fechter's death, at which they admitted to his shooting. They were both convicted, and sentenced to one year's imprisonment on probation." (amazingly, but there seems to be no information on this on the web. I googled for the names, but there only appear 4 english webpages. Could it be that some name is misspelled?)

"It also emerged during the trial that any aid attempt from the West had indeed been made impossible, but according to a report from forensic pathologist Otto Prokop, "Fechter had no chance of survival. The shot in the right hip had caused the severest internal injuries."" (That one is very interesting)

Facts that I doubt:

"shots were fired, ..., in plain view of hundreds of witnesses" (It seems more logical that the shots were seen only by some people that happened to be there. Later, when Fechter began to cry, hundreds of people gathered.)

"western bystanders were apparently prevented at gunpoint from assisting him" (About this, there is a big difference among the eastern and western reports. Some reports say that the eastern soldiers used teargas (not guns) to prevent western people from climbing the wall. Others say that the eastern soldiers were prevented at gunpoint by the western police... In my opinion, there should be reliable evidence, to have this claim in the article)

You can answer in English on my German discussion page de:Benutzer_Diskussion:MKI

Greetings, ~michael

From User:Trainspotter

Hello, and thank you very much for your message to me at en:User talk:Trainspotter. Thank you for inviting to me to reply in English. To be honest, I constructed the page en:Peter Fechter (which previously did not exist) using facts accumulated from whatever other web pages I could find -- I am not a historian, and do not have access to primary source materials. I am sure that this means that there are some problems with the article, but I thought that this would be a good start at least. But stupidly, I did not keep a record of the relevant URLs. If I get the time, I will try to trace again the pages where these facts were quoted. If you have opinions regarding the believability of these sources, then I would be very interested to hear, because so far I have tended simply to believe what I read. If I do not get the time to do this, then please feel free to remove things which you think are too suspicious. Best wishes. Trainspotter englisch 18:44, 11. Okt 2004 (CEST)

Hello again,

Okay, I have now had a look on the web, to look again for the sources, and here are the sources for the things which I wrote when I drafted the original version of the article here.

As I said, I do not have access to primary sources, so I just started with what I could find online, and I make no claims about how good these sources are. If you think that some sources are unreliable, then please change the article however you think will improve it. What I wrote is only a starting point!

The list is in the format:

Your comments to me.

Location of source

Quote from the web page

The plan was to hide in a carpenter's workshop near the wall and, after

observing the border guards from there, to jump out of a window" (I found

something on that, but it is about an "empty abandoned house" and not a

"carpenter's workshop")

There is a page, now disappeared but still on the Google cache, at the URL, describing a documentary in 2002 on WDR Fernsehen:

http://www.lernzeit.de/themen/sendungen/dok/dok100802_inhalt.phtml

In Mauernähe verstecken sich beide in einer Schreinerei und beobachten die Kontrollgänge der Grenzpolizisten.

(With Babelfish I translated Schreinerei as carpenter's workshop.)

"Fechter was shot in the pelvis" (my book says that he was hit in the back and

the belly)

http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2000/germany/stories/order101/

I don't think it's the same article that I saw before, but it has:

The 18-year-old Fechter was shot in the pelvis

"according to a report in Time Magazine, a US second-lieutenant on the scene

received specific orders from the US Commandant in West Berlin to stand firm

and do nothing" (This is indeed an interesting addition to the comment of the

GDR commander. Is there an online version of this article?)

I didn't find an online version of the whole article, but here is a page with excerpts:

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/09/1st.draft/

One conscience-stricken U.S. second lieutenant could stand it no longer, picked up the "hot line" telephone to Major General Albert Watson II, the U.S. commandant in West Berlin. Back came the order: "Lieutenant, you have your orders. Stand fast. Do nothing."

"In March 1997 two former East German guards Rolf Friedrich and Erich

Schreiber faced manslaughter charges for Fechter's death, at which they admitted to his shooting. They were both convicted, and sentenced to one year's imprisonment on probation." (amazingly, but there seems to be no information on this on the web. I googled for the names, but there only appear 4 english webpages. Could it be that some name is misspelled?)

http://www.berlinonline.de/berliner-kurier/archiv/.bin/dump.fcgi/1997/0304/none/0010/

And from the above review from lernzeit.de (the one now in the Google cache):

Im März 1997 wurden schließlich Erich Schreiben und Rolf Friedrich zu einjährigen Freiheitsstrafen auf Bewährung verurteilt.

(In fact this review also has the spelling "Schreiben". but this seems unlikely to me. Even the Berlin Online article has Schreiber.)

"It also emerged during the trial that any aid attempt from the West had indeed been made impossible, but according to a report from forensic pathologist Otto Prokop, "Fechter had no chance of survival. The shot in the right hip had caused the severest internal injuries."" (That one is very interesting)

See the Berlin Online article above.

In einem Stasi-Bericht hieß es später, ein Bergungsversuch sei vom Westen "unmöglich gemacht worden"

"Fechter hatte keine überlebenschance. Der Treffer in die rechte Hüfte hatte schwerste innere Verletzungen Facts that I doubt:

"shots were fired, ..., in plain view of hundreds of witnesses" (It seemslogical that the shots were seen only by some people that happened to be there. Later, when Fechter began to cry, hundreds of people thered.)

I think I got that from the German wikipedia article.

"wurde Fechter vor den Augen von hunderten Zeugen noch auf der Mauer angeschossen"

"western bystanders were apparently prevented at gunpoint from assisting him" (About this, there is a big difference among the eastern and western reports. Some reports say that the eastern soldiers used teargas (not guns) to prevent western people from climbing the wall. Others say that the eastern soldiers were prevented at gunpoint by the western police... In my opinion, there should be reliable evidence, to have this claim in the article)

http://www.dailysoft.com/berlinwall/photographs/berlinwall-1963jo/berlinwall-1963-005.htm

Bystanders in the West tried to rescue him, but were prevented from it at gunpoint.

209.157.64.200/focus/f-vetscor/1223085/posts

In August 1962, Fechter bled to death at the base of the wall in the "death zone". Guards had shot him in the back as he tried to escape. Bystanders in the West tried to rescue him, but were prevented from it at gunpoint.

Hello Trainspotter, thanks for your reply!

I don't have much time at the moment, so only a few things:

I am not a historian, neither. I used my book about the Berlin wall and the internet for research. When I compared different sources I noticed that there are quite a few contraticting details. Together with the discussion on the German page this showed me that, apparently, not all the sources can be trust.

Thanks for the links. The info about the US orders is a good one, it makes a good addition to the statement of the GDR commander.

On www.berlinonline.de/berliner-kurier you can find more articles about Peter Fechter, if you search for "Fechter Mauer".

The "hundrets of spectators" claim was on the German wikipedia, you are right. I changed it there, because it seems not very logical to me. Why should there be so many bypassers already at that point? They gathered later.

I found one more page that has the names of the GDR border guards: [1]. It is the homepage of Thomas Geue, the husband of Gisela Geue, a sister of Peter Fechter.

I will add some of the new info to the German page when I have more time.

EDIT: You might be interested in this [2] German-English online dictionary. It is the best one I know.--de:Benutzer:MKI

[There is a spanish very famous song dedicated to Peter Fechter: "Libre" by Nino Bravo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfpqKPsAjAM&feature=related] — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.158.87.223 (talk) 11:53, 23 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Journalists at scene of crime?

"Fechter was shot ... in plain view of hundreds of witnesses. He fell back ... where he lay, still in view of Western onlookers including journalists ..."

How did all those witnesses happen to be near the wall at that time ? I guess the onlookers and journalists came there on hearsay. This needs to be mentioned. Jay 17:00, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Quite clear now. Jay (talk) 05:01, 12 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Is there more information about Rudi Arnstadt, the East German guard supposedly shot by western forces (given in the summary as one reason why the East German guards did not assist Fechter)? Was he shot, or shot at, and if so why?Ashley Pomeroy 10:56, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Time of death

Fetcher was killed the same morning I was born. Very happy to see such a good article on him. All I had read before was the article in The Times (UK) the day after, but I do seem to remember that he died in the morning, 7 to 8 am. Anyone know when he died? Squiquifox 15:52, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)

According to William F. Buckley's book The Fall of the Berlin Wall, page 89, Fechter tried to scale the wall at about 2 pm, and his body was taken away by GDR police at 3:05 pm. | Keithlaw 22:58, 23 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Not from Haigerloch

I don't think he's from Haigerloch. Not sure how to correct this in the html way, but Peter Fechter wasn't from Haigerloch. He was from East Berlin (obviously) so it's misleading to suggest that he was a West German... Sorry I don't know how to write this up in the proper Wikipedia style. Will try and learn... MR (about) 08:53, July 13, 2005 (UTC)

Just write it up. I or another can always correct it, SqueakBox 17:39, July 18, 2005 (UTC)

Controversy?

"He fell back into the death-strip on the Eastern side, where he lay, still in view of Western onlookers including journalists... Hundreds in West Berlin formed a spontaneous demonstration, shouting "murderers" at the border guards."

He fell on the Eastern Side, in plain view of the Western onlookers? Does that make sense or am I just missing something? Ravenstorm 13:06, 17 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

In the early days it wasn't a full concrete wall. It was more of a barbed-wire fence with a no-man's land. --Dhartung | Talk 13:17, 17 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Examining the photo on our page and comparing with this construction photo I believe that the wall at that point was at least shoulder-height but not much more. It would have been possible to view inside the death zone from overlooking buildings as well, especially if the wall jogged at all right there. --Dhartung | Talk 13:29, 17 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Not communist?

It's now POV to say that East Germany was communist? That's incredible. --Dhartung | Talk 21:34, 3 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

East Germany was communist. That's a matter of fact. But that doesn't make an individual person a communist. Kingjeff (talk) 18:50, 24 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This article is a conscient, face-washing efford of the comunism on the murder of Peter Fechter. In particular, on the non-aiding issue. After reading it, you get the impression that Peter Fechter was not helped by western soldiers gunpointing anyone that could help. As far as I understand, comunists had guns in the scene. As far as I undestand, the wounded was at comunist side, so it is up to the comunist to help him. And as far as I understand, if any of the people of the west tried to jump to the east to help, the chances where to be shooted by the comunists. I can not renember too much people being shooted by west troops when jumping the wall. But, anyway, any rewritting of the history to improve comunist image is acepted. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.155.244.175 (talk) 19:17, 28 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Inline citations required

As can be seen in the article, we need to improve it adding citations and references. Those mentioned by the atarter of the artivle in the first section if the discussion seem good enough. I don't undersatand why they are not on in the article.

As can be seen in the article, we need to improve it adding citations and references. Those mentioned by the starter of the article in the first section if the discussion seem good enough. I don't understand why they are not on the article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Universal001 (talk • contribs) 12:24, 11 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Conditions of death

Russian article states - he was picked by ambulance after an hour and died in the ambulence; which contradicts to english article saying Fechter bled and died on the ground and dead body was picked. Is there a reliable source about that? 217.50.168.214 (talk) 17:34, 30 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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Devin Hernandez

Who is "Devin Hernandez?" Hunter Hutchins (talk) 09:47, 9 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

"Devin Hernandez" is the work of some anonymous vandal. And from 2014 too. I'm amazed no-one else noticed it until now, TBH... BSanders46 (talk) 13:48, 9 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]