Reinhold Huhn was the youngest child of a farmer family living in Braunsberg, East Prussia (which is today Braniewo, northeast Poland, near the Russian Border and Kaliningrad). After WWII, his family was forced to move to Adorf, in Vogtland (southwest Saxony). Prior to entering military service in September 1960, he trained to be a cattle breader, and worked on a collective farm in the Plauen district. In June 1961 his unit was transferred to East Berlin and involved in constructing the Wall, eventually being asigned to the East Berlin border brigade.
On the afternoon of June 18, 1962, Reinhold Huhn was posted in the middle of the city at the corner of Jerusalemer Strasse and Zimmerstrasse, where border fortifications here ran right through Berlin’s former newspaper district. Not far away on the west side was the Springer Verlag's new publishing house. At about 5:20 p.m., a man approaching from the East Berlin border house at Zimmerstrasse 56, which was still inhabited on the upper levels, but the ground floor had been evacuated and the front door sealed shut. The building could only be entered from the back courtyard on Jerusalemer Strasse. Since the man was heading towards the East Berlin city center, suspicion was not aroused at first. But when he returned an hour later with two women and two children, Huhn conducted an identity check; the "Fluchthilfer" was Rudolf Müller, and attempting to bring his wife, two children, and sister-in-law to West Berlin via a tunnel to the west side of the city that afternoon. After other escape plans had failed, he dug underground for many weeks with his brothers and other helpers until the tunnel which started in the basement of Zimmerstrasse 56, and ran to the grounds of the Springer Verlag. When Müller saw no other way to continue the escape, he shot Huhn at point blank range, killing him, and enable the party to escape successfully.
The East Berlin authorities demanded Müller’s extradition, but the West Berlin Senate aligned itself with Müller, and immediately flew him and his family to West Germany. Müller told the West Berlin police that he had only hit the border guard, causing him to fall down, and that the fatal shot had come from the other border soldier who had shot at the fugitives. Believing Rudolf Müller’s version of the story, the western media accused the second guard of having killed his comrade. Thus the West Berlin investigation against Müller was closed in November 1962.
Huhn would be a martyr in East Berlin and East Germany, "a victim of western warmongers", with a high-profile military funeral, memorials, and streets named after him.
By the end of the nineties, Huhn's death again made headlines. Müller was retried, this time charged with manslaughter, sentenced to a year in prison which was commuted to probation. Müller admitted to shooting Huhn, claiming self-defense. But the court concluded that it was not justified by either self-defense or emergency assistance to others, and that Huhn at no time threatened the life and health of Müller and his family. Müller, as well as Huhn's relatives, appealed the decision. Müller was hoping to be acquitted, while Huhn’s relatives wanted a just evaluation of the crime. In 2000, the verdict was revised, now convicting Müller guilty of murder, but it did not change the original sentence for manslaughter.
On the afternoon of June 18, 1962, Reinhold Huhn was posted in the middle of the city at the corner of Jerusalemer Strasse and Zimmerstrasse, where border fortifications here ran right through Berlin’s former newspaper district. Not far away on the west side was the Springer Verlag's new publishing house. At about 5:20 p.m., a man approaching from the East Berlin border house at Zimmerstrasse 56, which was still inhabited on the upper levels, but the ground floor had been evacuated and the front door sealed shut. The building could only be entered from the back courtyard on Jerusalemer Strasse. Since the man was heading towards the East Berlin city center, suspicion was not aroused at first. But when he returned an hour later with two women and two children, Huhn conducted an identity check; the "Fluchthilfer" was Rudolf Müller, and attempting to bring his wife, two children, and sister-in-law to West Berlin via a tunnel to the west side of the city that afternoon. After other escape plans had failed, he dug underground for many weeks with his brothers and other helpers until the tunnel which started in the basement of Zimmerstrasse 56, and ran to the grounds of the Springer Verlag. When Müller saw no other way to continue the escape, he shot Huhn at point blank range, killing him, and enable the party to escape successfully.
The East Berlin authorities demanded Müller’s extradition, but the West Berlin Senate aligned itself with Müller, and immediately flew him and his family to West Germany. Müller told the West Berlin police that he had only hit the border guard, causing him to fall down, and that the fatal shot had come from the other border soldier who had shot at the fugitives. Believing Rudolf Müller’s version of the story, the western media accused the second guard of having killed his comrade. Thus the West Berlin investigation against Müller was closed in November 1962.
Huhn would be a martyr in East Berlin and East Germany, "a victim of western warmongers", with a high-profile military funeral, memorials, and streets named after him.
By the end of the nineties, Huhn's death again made headlines. Müller was retried, this time charged with manslaughter, sentenced to a year in prison which was commuted to probation. Müller admitted to shooting Huhn, claiming self-defense. But the court concluded that it was not justified by either self-defense or emergency assistance to others, and that Huhn at no time threatened the life and health of Müller and his family. Müller, as well as Huhn's relatives, appealed the decision. Müller was hoping to be acquitted, while Huhn’s relatives wanted a just evaluation of the crime. In 2000, the verdict was revised, now convicting Müller guilty of murder, but it did not change the original sentence for manslaughter.
Reinhold Huhn was the youngest child of a farmer family living in Braunsberg, East Prussia (which is today Braniewo, northeast Poland, near the Russian Border and Kaliningrad). After WWII, his family was forced to move to Adorf, in Vogtland (southwest Saxony). Prior to entering military service in September 1960, he trained to be a cattle breader, and worked on a collective farm in the Plauen district. In June 1961 his unit was transferred to East Berlin and involved in constructing the Wall, eventually being asigned to the East Berlin border brigade.
On the afternoon of June 18, 1962, Reinhold Huhn was posted in the middle of the city at the corner of Jerusalemer Strasse and Zimmerstrasse, where border fortifications here ran right through Berlin’s former newspaper district. Not far away on the west side was the Springer Verlag's new publishing house. At about 5:20 p.m., a man approaching from the East Berlin border house at Zimmerstrasse 56, which was still inhabited on the upper levels, but the ground floor had been evacuated and the front door sealed shut. The building could only be entered from the back courtyard on Jerusalemer Strasse. Since the man was heading towards the East Berlin city center, suspicion was not aroused at first. But when he returned an hour later with two women and two children, Huhn conducted an identity check; the "Fluchthilfer" was Rudolf Müller, and attempting to bring his wife, two children, and sister-in-law to West Berlin via a tunnel to the west side of the city that afternoon. After other escape plans had failed, he dug underground for many weeks with his brothers and other helpers until the tunnel which started in the basement of Zimmerstrasse 56, and ran to the grounds of the Springer Verlag. When Müller saw no other way to continue the escape, he shot Huhn at point blank range, killing him, and enable the party to escape successfully.
The East Berlin authorities demanded Müller’s extradition, but the West Berlin Senate aligned itself with Müller, and immediately flew him and his family to West Germany. Müller told the West Berlin police that he had only hit the border guard, causing him to fall down, and that the fatal shot had come from the other border soldier who had shot at the fugitives. Believing Rudolf Müller’s version of the story, the western media accused the second guard of having killed his comrade. Thus the West Berlin investigation against Müller was closed in November 1962.
Huhn would be a martyr in East Berlin and East Germany, "a victim of western warmongers", with a high-profile military funeral, memorials, and streets named after him.
By the end of the nineties, Huhn's death again made headlines. Müller was retried, this time charged with manslaughter, sentenced to a year in prison which was commuted to probation. Müller admitted to shooting Huhn, claiming self-defense. But the court concluded that it was not justified by either self-defense or emergency assistance to others, and that Huhn at no time threatened the life and health of Müller and his family. Müller, as well as Huhn's relatives, appealed the decision. Müller was hoping to be acquitted, while Huhn’s relatives wanted a just evaluation of the crime. In 2000, the verdict was revised, now convicting Müller guilty of murder, but it did not change the original sentence for manslaughter.
On the afternoon of June 18, 1962, Reinhold Huhn was posted in the middle of the city at the corner of Jerusalemer Strasse and Zimmerstrasse, where border fortifications here ran right through Berlin’s former newspaper district. Not far away on the west side was the Springer Verlag's new publishing house. At about 5:20 p.m., a man approaching from the East Berlin border house at Zimmerstrasse 56, which was still inhabited on the upper levels, but the ground floor had been evacuated and the front door sealed shut. The building could only be entered from the back courtyard on Jerusalemer Strasse. Since the man was heading towards the East Berlin city center, suspicion was not aroused at first. But when he returned an hour later with two women and two children, Huhn conducted an identity check; the "Fluchthilfer" was Rudolf Müller, and attempting to bring his wife, two children, and sister-in-law to West Berlin via a tunnel to the west side of the city that afternoon. After other escape plans had failed, he dug underground for many weeks with his brothers and other helpers until the tunnel which started in the basement of Zimmerstrasse 56, and ran to the grounds of the Springer Verlag. When Müller saw no other way to continue the escape, he shot Huhn at point blank range, killing him, and enable the party to escape successfully.
The East Berlin authorities demanded Müller’s extradition, but the West Berlin Senate aligned itself with Müller, and immediately flew him and his family to West Germany. Müller told the West Berlin police that he had only hit the border guard, causing him to fall down, and that the fatal shot had come from the other border soldier who had shot at the fugitives. Believing Rudolf Müller’s version of the story, the western media accused the second guard of having killed his comrade. Thus the West Berlin investigation against Müller was closed in November 1962.
Huhn would be a martyr in East Berlin and East Germany, "a victim of western warmongers", with a high-profile military funeral, memorials, and streets named after him.
By the end of the nineties, Huhn's death again made headlines. Müller was retried, this time charged with manslaughter, sentenced to a year in prison which was commuted to probation. Müller admitted to shooting Huhn, claiming self-defense. But the court concluded that it was not justified by either self-defense or emergency assistance to others, and that Huhn at no time threatened the life and health of Müller and his family. Müller, as well as Huhn's relatives, appealed the decision. Müller was hoping to be acquitted, while Huhn’s relatives wanted a just evaluation of the crime. In 2000, the verdict was revised, now convicting Müller guilty of murder, but it did not change the original sentence for manslaughter.
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