Hildegard Trabant
| Hildegard Trabant | |
|---|---|
| Born |
12 June 1927 Berlin |
| Died |
18 August 1964 (aged 37) Berlin, Krankenhaus der Volkspolizei (now the Bundeswehrkrankenhaus_Berlin) |
Cause of death | Shot by a guard whilst attempting to enter West Berlin from East Berlin |
Body discovered |
The closed S-Bahn tracks between the Schönhauser Allee and Gesundbrunnen stations 52°32′58″N 13°24′07″E / 52.549483°N 13.401828°E |
| Monuments |
White Crosses, Berlin "Window Of Remembrance", Berlin |
| Known for | One of eight women killed at the Berlin Wall |
Hildegard Trabant, née Pohl (June 12, 1927, Berlin – August 18, 1964, Berlin) was a German woman killed trying to cross the Berlin Wall.
Hildegard Trabant was born in Berlin and grew up there. She was loyal to the East German regime; she joined the Socialist Unity Party in 1949, which was the same year that the GDR was founded. In 1954, she married a People's Police officer. They lived in a rather upscale apartment complex on Tilister Strasse (today Richard-Sorge-Straße)[1] near Strausberger Platz, in Berlin. Whatever led her to attempt to flee East Germany was probably of a personal nature, involving domestic disputes. She had several large clashes with her husband, which got the attention of his supervisors within the police force.
At 6:50PM on August 18, 1964, Hildegard Trabant attempted to cross the border between East and West Berlin. She was discovered by East German border guards and subsequently shot. She died about an hour later at the Krankenhaus der Volkspolizei (now the Bundeswehr Krankenhaus); she was 37 years old. In the presence of his superiors, her husband was either unable or unwilling to comment on circumstances which led to her attempted flight from East Germany.
Unlike almost all other deaths at the Berlin Wall, Hildegard Trabant's death went totally unnoticed in West Berlin. It would be 26 years later (October 1990) when the 1964 East Berlin files were given to the German federal judiciary. After a lengthy trial, the guard who shot her was found guilty of manslaughter, and sentenced to year and nine months in prison, which was commuted later to probation. Also unlike almost all other deaths at the Berlin wall, it was obvious that when she was actually shot, she had abandoned her attempt to escape East Berlin, and was merely fleeing back towards the inner wall, to avoid arrest.[2]
Hildegard Trabant was buried at the Frieden-Himmelfahrt Cemetery (now the Evangelischer Friedhof Nordend), north of Pankow, in Niederschönhausen. She was buried in a "linear grave", meaning, a grave which expired after the lawful regulated 20 years of resting allowed under GDR law without becoming a "family grave"—the family continues to maintain, or another family member is buried more recently there. This period of resting "expired" in 1984, and this particular section of the cemetery was rearranged. Her urn is still there, like all urns buried there, but it's now under another grave number, and under another name on the tombstone. Previously, her grave number was UH Him - 234a. The "new" grave number is UH Him - B - 102.[3][4]
Hildegard Trabant was one of only eight women killed at the Berlin wall, among the total of at least 138 victims.
External links
References
- ↑ Annett Gröschner, "Aus Anderer Sicht/The Other View" (pg 625), July 2011, Hatje Cantz, ISBN 978-3-7757-3207-9
- ↑
- ↑ Hildegard Trabant - a forgotten Berlin Wall victim
- ↑
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