Reinhold Huhn (8 March 1942 – 18 June 1962) was an

East German East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

soldier who was killed while serving as a border guard in

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 ...

when he attempted to stop a family from escaping to

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 ...

Early life

Huhn was born in

Braunsberg Braniewo () (, , Old Prussian: ''Brus''), is a town in northern Poland, in Warmia, in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, with a population of 16,907 as of June 2021. It is the capital of Braniewo County. Braniewo is the second biggest city of ...

, East Prussia, but in 1946, his family was forced to leave the area for

Adorf Adorf () is a small town and Municipalities in Germany, municipality in the Vogtlandkreis to the south-west of the Saxony, Free State of Saxony, Germany. Gettengrün, a village within the municipality, borders on the Czech Republic. Etymology Th ...

, Vogtland, since Braunsberg was then controlled by

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. He completed training as a cattle breeder and briefly worked on a state-owned farm. In 1960, when he turned 18, Huhn enlisted in the police force. In June 1961, Huhn's unit was transferred to

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 ...

, where they assisted in the construction of 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 ...

. After construction, Huhn remained in East Berlin as a guard of the 4th Border Division.

Death

On June 18, 1962, Huhn was standing guard in the middle of the city along with his guard leader.

Background

Rudolf Müller was a former " border crosser", or a person who had commuted between West and East Berlin for work before the construction of the Berlin Wall. Following construction of the wall, Müller had been living in

while his wife, two children, and sister-in-law were required by East German authorities to stay in

. With the help of his brother, Müller dug a tunnel from the grounds of the Springer Verlag to the basement of a building located at Zimmerstrasse 56 in East Berlin.

Confrontation

When Huhn asked Müller for his papers, Müller produced a pistol and shot Huhn in the chest.

Legacy

A year after his death, the East Berlin city commander dedicated a memorial at the site on the border where he was shot. In the 1970s, this site was expanded into a more general memorial for soldiers who died while guarding the Berlin Wall. On September 11, 1972, American professor and communist

Angela Davis Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944) is an American Marxist and feminist political activist, philosopher, academic, and author. She is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Feminist Studies and History of Consciousness at the University of ...

visited East Berlin and laid a wreath at the site of the Huhn Memorial. Davis praised Huhn, describing him as a "loyal soldier, who sacrificed his life for his socialist country." The memorial was removed after the

reunification of Germany German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the German Democratic Republic and the integration of i ...

. In 1999, Rudolf Müller was convicted of manslaughter and received a one-year suspended sentence. In 2000, the

Federal Court of Justice The Federal Court of Justice ( , ) is the highest court of Private law, civil and Criminal law, criminal jurisdiction in Germany. Its primary responsibility is the final appellate review of decisions by lower courts for errors of law. While, le ...

changed the verdict to murder, but did not modify the sentence.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huhn, Reinhold 1942 births 1962 deaths GDR Border Troops people Military personnel killed in the Cold War Deaths by firearm in East Germany