- Rudi Arnstadt
Rudi Arnstadt (
September 3 ,1926 –August 14 ,1962 ) was an East German border guard who was shot and killed while serving as a captain of the border troops of the formerEast Germany . He was shot by Hans Plüschke, a twenty-three year old West German border guard. The incident took place at Wiesenfeld on the East-West border in the East German province ofThuringia .His death occurred along with the deaths of another four East German border troops in quite a short time. Such incidents led to a very strained relationship between the two opposing sets of German border troops. This has been proposed as a contributory factor for the failure of
East Berlin border guards to assist the mortally woundedPeter Fechter . Fechter was shot while attempting to defect toWest Berlin onAugust 17 ,1962 and died after lying in no-man's land for an hour, in full view of both sides.ources
* [http://www.osthessen-news.de/beitrag_A.php?id=1449 Osthessen-News.de: article on 40th anniversary of death of Rudi Arnstadt and the subsequent death of Plüschke] de icon
References
* Frotscher, K., Liebig, H.: "Opfer deutscher Teilung – Beim Grenzschutz getötet" ISBN 3-89819-198-2
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
