Marienetta Jirkowsky
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Marienetta "Micki" Jirkowsky (25 August 1962 – 22 November 1980) was a German woman who became the one-hundred and twenty-fifth known person to die at the
Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...
. Jirkowsky was shot and killed by East German border guards during an escape attempt, and at 18 years was one of the youngest victims and the youngest of the 8 women killed at the Berlin wall.


Biography

Marienetta Jirkowsky was born on 25 August 1962, in
Bad Saarow Bad Saarow (, ; 1950–2002: Bad Saarow-Pieskow) is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the Oder-Spree district, in Brandenburg, Germany. The place is known for its hot springs and for its mineral-rich mud. Their healing properties have ...
,
East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
, the only child to Klaus Jirkowsky, a skilled
bricklayer A bricklayer, which is related to but different from a mason, is a craftsperson and tradesperson who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The terms also refer to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of maso ...
, and his wife, Astrid, employed by the Reifenkombinat Fürstenwalde, a tyre manufacturing plant. Marienetta grew up in
Spreenhagen Spreenhagen () is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the Oder-Spree district, in Brandenburg, Germany. History From 1815 to 1947, Spreenhagen was part of the Prussia, Prussian Province of Brandenburg, from 1947 to 1952 of the State of Br ...
and last lived at Birkenweg 13, where she was nicknamed "Micki" by her friends, as she was a "small, free-spirited and fun-loving person." One of her friends, Falko Vogt, later explained she and her friends really "just wanted to live in peace, without any problems and without being forbidden to do anything."Spiegel Online: The Two Deaths of Marienetta Jirkowsky
March 24, 2010
During the school year, Marienetta had little contact with other students. Instead, during her spare time, she helped in a
retirement home A retirement home – sometimes called an old people's home, old folks' home, or old age home, although ''old people's home'' can also refer to a nursing home – or rest home, is a multi-residence housing facility intended for the elderly. Ty ...
in the neighboring village of Grünheide, where she was very popular with senior citizens. In 1979, Marienetta began her apprenticeship as a textile worker at the tyre factory where her mother worked.Spiegel Online: Marienetta's Lost Photos
August 13, 2010
Falko Vogt had been thinking about escaping East Germany for a long time, and when he and Marienetta met Peter Wiesner together in spring 1980, discovered that Wiesner also disliked the conditions in the country. Wiesner applied a number of times for an exit permit to leave East Germany. When Marienetta turned 18, the legal age of an adult under East German law, she became engaged to Peter Wiesner and they planned to move in together in the fall of 1980. However, this decision led to major conflicts with Marienetta's parents who were opposed to the relationship, fearing that they were going to lose their only child, particularly if she emigrated with Wiesner. Additionally, Wiesner was
divorced Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...
, drank a lot, was violence prone, struggled to maintain consistent employment, and had a history of being in trouble with the police. To end the relationship, Marienetta's parents succeeded in getting a police order to ban Wiesner from having any contact with their daughter. After that, the three young people were just waiting for the right moment to leave East Germany, and planned to flee together on the night of 22 November 1980. In preparation for their escape, Peter Wiesner created a folding ladder in his apartment, which consisted of separate pieces. Numerous newspaper and magazine articles indicated that by this time, Marienetta Jirkowsky was three months pregnant.taz.de article: Buddeln in der Vergangenheit
June 28, 2007
Altpreussenblatt article
"Protest gegen Mord an der Mauer", 14 March 1981 (page 1)

June 27, 2007

November 9, 2014
However, this has not been confirmed by something more reliable, such as an autopsy record from the hospital in Hennigsdorf, or a police report.


Death

On 21 November 1980, Marienetta, Vogt, and Wiesner took a train from
Fürstenwalde Fürstenwalde/Spree (; ) is the most populous town in the Oder-Spree District of Brandenburg, in eastern Germany. Geography The town is situated in the glacial valley (''Urstromtal'') of the Spree river north of the Rauen Hills, about east of ...
to
East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...
to look for a good place to escape. They agreed that the spot they previously checked out was not suited for an escape, so they took the S-Bahn back to
Hohen Neuendorf Hohen Neuendorf () is a town in the Oberhavel district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is located north west of Berlin. Geography Hohen Neuendorf is situated upon the Havel river (built on the Oder-Havel Canal) and is bordered by the Berlin areas F ...
that evening. Peter Wiesner was familiar with the border there, from when he worked nearby as a
showman Showman can have a variety of meanings, usually by context and depending on the country. Australia Travelling Funfair, showmen ("showies") are people who run amusement and side show equipment at regional shows, state capital shows, events ...
. They arrived at the Hohen Neuendorf S-Bahn station at around 12:30 AM, and worked their way across the property near the border. Contrary to their original plan, the three made a spontaneous decision to flee that very night. They did not know that, thanks to this decision, Vogt and Wiesner just barely missed being arrested early the next morning. An informant for the East German
secret police image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png, 300px, Vladimir Putin's secret police identity card, issued by the East German Stasi while he was working as a Soviet KGB liaison officer from 1985 to 1989. Both organizations used similar forms of repression. Secre ...
, the
Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...
, was a member of their group of friends, and betrayed them by reporting their escape plan. Since the fabricated ladder was still in Wiesner's residence, they stole two ladders en route, including a ladder from the yard of a disused restaurant, and a folding stepladder from a neighbouring residence at Florastrasse 2, which was approximately 150 meters from where they attempted their escape. Once in position at the
Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...
, they used the stepladder to peer over the inner wall and get a look at the border grounds.Chronik der Mauer: MfS-Bericht über den Fluchtversuch und die Erschießung von Marienetta Jirkowsky
(Stasi report on the escape and the shooting of Marienetta Jirkowsky), November 22, 1980
Chronik der Mauer: Marienetta Jirkowsky: MfS-Auswertung des Fluchtversuchs und der Erschießung
(Marienetta Jirkowsky: Stasi-evaluation of the escape attempt and the shooting), December 4, 1980
For three hours that night, the three young people observed the routine at the border while bolstering each other's courage. Then they separated the stepladder into two parts, and at about 3:30 AM, they used the front part of the stepladder to climb over the inner wall. The larger restaurant ladder was used to get over the next obstacle, a 2.5 meter high signal fence, which the two men overcame without activating the alarm, but when Marienetta followed them, the alarm was triggered. The men had already reached the final obstacle, the 3.5-meter-high outer wall on the border with
West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...
, where the bottom part of the stepladder would be used to scale the outer wall. Although part of the step ladder had sunk into the ground, Vogt and Wiesner were still able to reach the top of the wall, but then shots were fired at them by East German border guards from a watchtower located 160 meters away. Vogt had already jumped down to the West Berlin side, but Wiesner lay down on his stomach on top of the wall because Marienetta, who was standing on the top rung of the ladder, was too short to grasp the wall with her hands. Wiesner reached out his hand to her to pull her up. Two additional border guards, who had run from their watchtower 230 meters away, also started firing at the fugitives. Marienetta had already reached the top of the wall with her hands when she was struck by a bullet and fell off the ladder, while Wiesner fell down on the West Berlin side. A short time later the border guards retrieved Marienetta and provided
first aid First aid is the first and immediate assistance given to any person with a medical emergency, with care provided to preserve life, prevent the condition from worsening, or to promote recovery until medical services arrive. First aid is gener ...
, then the regiment doctor ordered her to be transported to the nearest hospital in
Hennigsdorf Hennigsdorf () is a town in the district of Oberhavel, in Brandenburg, in eastern Germany. It is situated north-west of Berlin, just across the city border, which is formed mainly by the Havel river. History The town was first mentioned in 1375, ...
, where an emergency operation was performed. Marienetta Jirkowsky died at the hospital at 11:30 AM from a gunshot wound through her
abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the gut, belly, tummy, midriff, tucky, or stomach) is the front part of the torso between the thorax (chest) and pelvis in humans and in other vertebrates. The area occupied by the abdomen is called the abdominal ...
. On the day of the fatal escape attempt, Marienetta Jirkowsky's father was summoned to the East German police in Fürstenwalde. At first all he learned there was that his daughter had been arrested at the border to West Berlin, and was not informed that she had been killed, until two days later. The family was not allowed to publish an
obituary An obituary (wikt:obit#Etymology 2, obit for short) is an Article (publishing), article about a recently death, deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as Article (publishing), news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on p ...
. Spreenhagen, the 18-year-old woman's hometown, was virtually sealed off by Stasi agents when the
urn An urn is a vase, often with a cover, with a typically narrowed neck above a rounded body and a footed pedestal. Describing a vessel as an "urn", as opposed to a vase or other terms, generally reflects its use rather than any particular shape ...
containing her ashes was buried in the town's cemetery. The funeral was attended by her immediate family on 14 December 1980.Die zwei Tode der Marienetta Jirkowsky
January 2014


Aftermath

On behalf of all the Allied city commanders, the French city commander protested that very day against Marienetta Jirkowsky's shooting and demanded that East Germany finally put a stop to their "inhuman practices" regarding escapees. The East German secret police went to great effort to prevent any information from 18 year old Jirkowsky's death from leaking out. Under no circumstances was a photograph of the dead woman to be published and many photographs of Marienetta were confiscated from her friends and relatives. The East German secret police tried to make Peter Wiesner and Falko Vogt look like liars by passing a photograph of a woman who resembled Marienetta Jirkowsky on to the western media. The plan was to undermine the validity of all the reporting on the fatal escape attempt by having this photo identified as "false." Another step was taken to publicly discredit the two men who had fled: Informants working for the East German secret police were supposed to win over their confidence and then try to make them look like criminals. They were to "inconspicuously encourage them to spend large sums of money without deliberation, take out credit, etc., in order to set the preconditions for possible criminal behavior." Despite these measures, Falko Vogt and Peter Wiesner were able to provide detailed accounts of the case to the authorities of West Berlin. In early February 1981, they placed a
cross A cross is a religious symbol consisting of two Intersection (set theory), intersecting Line (geometry), lines, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of t ...
at the site where they had escaped to honor Jirkowsky. It was removed by a Stasi informant, Gero Hilliger (IMB Brunnen), and secretly brought to the Stasi in East Berlin. The Stasi also considered extraditing Vogt and Wiesner by taking "measures to transfer the two men back to East Germany," specifically meaning a plan to have them kidnapped and brought back to East Germany against their will.Gero Hilliger: Doppeltes Spiel des schnellen Zeichners
January 2014
In the aftermath of Marienetta Jirkowsky's death, Falko Vogt became involved in spectacular acts to draw attention to the fate of his friend. On 6 February 1981, he placed charges of murder against the East German minister of defense,
Heinz Hoffmann Heinz Hoffmann (28 November 1910 – 2 December 1985) was a German military officer and politician who served as the Ministry of National Defense (East Germany), Minister of National Defense in the Council of Ministers of the East Germany, Germ ...
, with the Central Registry Office in
Salzgitter Salzgitter (; Eastphalian dialect, Eastphalian: ''Soltgitter'') is an independent city#Germany, independent city in southeast Lower Saxony, Germany, located between Hildesheim and Braunschweig. Together with Wolfsburg and Braunschweig, Salzgitte ...
. On 2 March 1981, during the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the p ...
follow-up conference in
Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
, he chained himself to the entrance gate of the
Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a Sovereign state, state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase ...
to denounce the East German government's violation of
human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
. Fifteen years later, one of the border guards that shot at Vogt, Wiesner, and Jirkowsky was tried for a "less serious case of
manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...
" and sentenced as a youth by the
Neuruppin Neuruppin (, , in contrast to ":de:Alt Ruppin, Old Ruppin"; ; North Brandenburgisch dialect, Brandenburgisch: ''Reppin'') is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, the administrative seat of Ostprignitz-Ruppin district. It is the birthplace of the noveli ...
district court to a prison term of one year and three months, which was commuted to
probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offence (law), offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incar ...
. In 2009, Hohen Neuendorf city council introduced legislation to rename a
traffic circle A roundabout, a rotary and a traffic circle are types of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junct ...
connected to Florastrasse to commemorate Marienetta Jirkowsky, but was vehemently rejected by her aunt and mother's sister, Bärbel Kultus. She attempted to act as the spokesperson for the family, since both of Jirkowsky's parents had since died, insisting that there was no merit to have died at the Berlin Wall, and that mourning was a private family matter. Kultus was revealed to have been a high level Stasi informant since 1970 until the dissolution of East Germany, under the
codename A code name, codename, call sign, or cryptonym is a code word or name used, sometimes clandestinely, to refer to another name, word, project, or person. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage. They may also be used in ...
"GMS Bärbel". Despite her opposition, after months of struggle, the decision was ultimately approved by the Hohen Neuendorf city council on 13 August 2010 and the traffic circle was renamed "Marienetta-Jirkowsky-Platz".Marienettas verschollene Bilde
January 2014


Memorials

Memorials to her death are located in the " White Crosses" memorial, next to the
Reichstag building The Reichstag (; ) is a historic legislative government building on Platz der Republik in Berlin that is the seat of the German Bundestag. It is also the meeting place of the Federal Convention, which elects the President of Germany. The Ne ...
, in the "Window Of Remembrance" of the Berlin Wall Memorial in
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
and near the former scene of the attempted escape, in
Hohen Neuendorf Hohen Neuendorf () is a town in the Oberhavel district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is located north west of Berlin. Geography Hohen Neuendorf is situated upon the Havel river (built on the Oder-Havel Canal) and is bordered by the Berlin areas F ...
. File:Berlin Wall 1985 - Cross Memorial.jpg, Original Cross Location taken in 1985, at Berlin Wall File:Berlin, Spreeufer, Gedenkkreuze für Maueropfer 02.jpg, "White Crosses" memorial next to the Reichstag building Berlin File:Fenster-des-Gedenkens-Berlin.jpg, "Window Of Remembrance" at Berlin Wall Memorial File:JirkowskyStele.jpg, Marienetta Jirkowsky Monument, Hohen Neuendorf File:HohenNeuendorf-Jirkowsky-Platz.jpg, Street sign at "Marienetta-Jirkowsky-Platz", Hohen Neuendorf File:JirkowskyGedenktafelHohenNeuendorf.jpg, Commemorative plaque at "Marienetta-Jirkowsky-Platz", Hohen Neuendorf


See also

*
List of deaths at the Berlin Wall There were numerous deaths at the Berlin Wall, which stood as a barrier between West Berlin and East Berlin from 13 August 1961 until Fall of the Berlin Wall, 9 November 1989. Before the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, 3.5 million Ea ...
*
Berlin Crisis of 1961 The Berlin Crisis of 1961 () was the last major European political and military incident of the Cold War concerning the status of the German capital city, Berlin, and of History of Germany (1945–90), post–World War II Germany. The crisis cul ...


References


External links


(Directions to) Marienetta Jirkowsky's grave in Spreenhagen


Multi-Media


Die Kulturingenieure
''Micki'', an animated short film (5 minutes, 30 seconds) about the attempted escape of Jirkowsky and her friends, narrated by Falko Vogt. 2014
The movie ''Micki'' at ''vimeo''
an
''Micki'' at ''YouTube''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jirkowsky, Marienetta 1962 births 1980 deaths People from Oder-Spree People from Bezirk Frankfurt Deaths at the Berlin Wall Deaths by firearm in East Germany 1980s in Berlin East German defectors