Featured Post

Click Here for Excerpts (and Reviews) for New Book

Thursday, June 8, 2017

New Study 'Verifies' Deaths at Berlin Border

In my new book "The Tunnels," on escapes under the Berlin Wall (click on cover at right for more), I detail some of the most dramatic murders at the barrier in the early 1960s and beyond:  escapees, diggers, and guards alike.  I also note that there have been conflicting estimates of how many Germans were killed at the Wall, based on strict or loose accounting (some counts, for example, include a large number who committed suicide or died or heart attacks and other ailments while contemplating or attempting escapes).

Now a new study, released today, takes a new "strict" approach, and places the number at  327,  more than double the previous "verified" total.  (My photo at left.)  Just one detail:
The 327 victims came from both East and West Germany, and the vast majority (80 percent) were younger than 35 years old. The youngest victim was six-month-old Emanuel Holzhauer, who died of asphyxiation next to his parents inside the trunk of a car as they were being smuggled into the West from the GDR (East Germany).

No comments: