Heinz Schäfer (born c. 1930/31) is a former

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

Stasi The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the Intelligence agency, state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maint ...

officer who was present during at least two significant European events of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

years.

Checkpoint Charlie

On 27 October 1961,

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and US forces confronted one another at Berlin's Checkpoint Charlie, creating the potential for all-out war between the powers. Heinz Schäfer was an East German border guard at the time, and states that only by keeping calm did both sides avoid catastrophic confrontation.

Opening of the Berlin Wall

9 November 1989 marked the opening of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

. Schäfer—at the time a

colonel—claims to have been the first to open the wall, having ordered his men to deactivate the automatically triggered weapons at his Waltersdorf Chaussee/Rudow Chaussee border crossing, and then to have ordered the opening of the gate. His account places his actions hours ahead of

Harald Jäger Harald Jäger (born 27 April 1943) is a former East German border guard officer who was in charge of a passport control unit. On 9 November 1989, he disobeyed orders and opened the Bornholmer Straße border crossing of the Berlin Wall. __NOTOC__ ...

, who has long been recognized as the first East German officer to breach the wall, at the Bornholmer crossing. However, unlike Jäger's station, Schäfer's facility at Waltersdorf-Rudow was small and had no television coverage. Therefore, there is no confirming documentation of Schäfer's account. Jäger maintains that Schäfer is lying. Schäfer came forward with these conflicting claims during a 2009 gathering of school girls. If true, his actions would explain reports of East Berliners in West Berlin hours before the opening of Jäger's Bornholmer checkpoint. From accounts by both Schäfer and Jäger, the two made their decisions independently of one other, without orders from supervisors.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schafer, Heinz Stasi officers 1931 births People from Berlin Berlin Wall Living people 1989 in Berlin Cold War