Klaus Brueske
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Klaus Brueske (September 14, 1938 – April 18, 1962) was a German truck driver who became the sixteenth person to die at 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 ...
. Brueske died in an attempt to break through the Heinrich-Heine-Straße border crossing in a truck, and was the first Berlin Wall victim to die from
suffocation Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects primarily the tissues and organs. There are many circumstances that can i ...
.


Life

Klaus Brueske was born on September 14, 1938, in Berlin, Nazi Germany, one of eight children raised in the Friedrichshain area of the city. By 1962, Brueske still lived in Friedrichshain, now in
East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...
, but was a Grenzgänger (cross-border commuter) who worked as a truck driver for
AEG Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft AG (AEG; ) was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in Berlin as the ''Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektricität'' in 1883 by Emil Rathenau. During the Second World War, AEG ...
in West Berlin. Following the abrupt closing of the border and construction 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 ...
on 13 August 1961, by East German authorities, Brueske remained in East Berlin and found a new job as a truck driver. Quickly becoming unhappy with the situation in the East Germany, Brueske started to plan his escape to West Berlin with friends, deciding to break through the border with a truck.Short portrait of Klaus Brueske at ''chronik-der-mauer.de''
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Death

On April 17, 1962, Brueske borrowed a truck from his workplace then loaded it with sand, and that evening met with six friends who wanted to take part in the escape attempt, where they drank for courage. When Brueske and the men went to the truck to begin they saw Volkspolizei officers nearby, instead parting ways to not to attract any attention from the policemen. At the later meeting, only three of Brueske's friends were still willing to escape. Brueske sat down at the steering wheel to drive, Lothar M. sat in the passenger seat, and Peter G. laid down in the loading area of the truck. After midnight they drove at the Heinrich-Heine-Straße border crossing at about 70 km/h (44 mph), breaking through the first two boom barriers, and a soldier of the
East German border guards The Border Troops of the German Democratic Republic (german: Grenztruppen der DDR) was the border guard of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1946 to 1990. The were the primary force guarding the Berlin Wall and the Inner German border, ...
fired a total of 14 shots at the vehicle. The truck came to a halt on the West Berlin side after hitting a wall, but Brueske had died and his friends were injured, and all three were taken to the hospital. Brueske was pronounced dead, and an
autopsy An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any di ...
of his corpse revealed that he had suffered two non-fatal gunshot injuries to the neck, instead Brueske had
suffocated Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects primarily the tissues and organs. There are many circumstances that can i ...
in the sand loaded on the back of the truck, which had poured into the cab due to the impact with the wall. Klaus Brueske's funeral, which his mother and siblings were prohibited from attending by the East German government, took place at the Friedhof Lübars cemetery in West Berlin.


After Reunification

After the
German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...
, the Berlin public prosecutor at the
Landgericht Berlin The Landgericht Berlin is a regional court in Berlin, divided into two divisions for civil and criminal cases. In the German court hierarchy, it is above the eleven local courts (Amtsgerichte) of the city and below the Kammergericht, which is the ...
brought charges against the border guard who had fired the shots at Brueske's truck. The court sentenced him in 1998 to imprisonment of 14 months, which was converted to probation.


See also

* List of deaths at the Berlin Wall *
Berlin Crisis of 1961 The Berlin Crisis of 1961 (german: Berlin-Krise) occurred between 4 June – 9 November 1961, and was the last major European politico-military incident of the Cold War about the occupational status of the German capital city, Berlin, and of po ...


References


Literature

* Christine Brecht: ''Klaus Brueske'', in: ''Die Todesopfer an der Berliner Mauer 1961–1989.'' Links, Berlin 2009, , p. 79–81. {{DEFAULTSORT:Brueske, Klaus Deaths at the Berlin Wall 1938 births 1962 deaths People from Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg People from East Berlin Deaths from choking East German defectors