12 February 1987 · Over the wall
Lutz Schmidt shot helping his friend over the Wall
Truck drivers Lutz Schmidt and Peter Schulze drove to the border with ladders; Schmidt helped his colleague onto the Wall and was shot dead as he tried to follow.
Lutz Schmidt, born on 8 July 1962, worked as a driver at VEB Autotrans. During a night shift on 12 February 1987 he and his co-worker Peter Schulze drove a truck loaded with ladders towards the border near Rheingoldstraße in Altglienicke, close to the Rudower Chaussee crossing.
In fog they almost collided with a patrol vehicle and the truck got stuck. The two men ran on with a ladder and set it against the 3.6-metre concrete wall, but it sank into the soft clay and ended about two metres short of the top.
Schulze reached the top of the Wall. As he tried to pull Schmidt up, at around 9:20 p.m., a border guard's bullet hit Schmidt in the chest and pierced his heart. He called out 'Peter, take off!' and died in the death strip. Schulze got away to West Berlin.
The death became known in the West only in mid-March 1987, when American authorities announced it following a report in the Bild-Zeitung. On 21 March 1995 two former guards were convicted of joint manslaughter, sentenced to two years each on probation and ordered to pay symbolic compensation to his widow.
A memorial plaque was unveiled on 9 November 2008 at Schönefelder Chaussee / Lutz-Schmidt-Straße.
Sources
- Schmidt, LutzChronik der Mauer
- Gedenktafel für Lutz Schmidt, Opfer der Berliner MauerMuseum Treptow-Köpenick / Berlin.de
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