Stasi spy shot West German protester in inflammatory 1967 killing

[ehrentitle]

Stasi spy shot West German protester in inflammatory 1967 killing
Deutsche Welle

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4270326,00.html

New information indicates that the killer in the controversial shooting of student protester Benno Ohnesorg in Berlin in 1967 was a West German policeman who was also working for the East German Stasi secret police.

Sifting through reams of old files from the communist state security apparatus in East Germany, two historians, Helmut Mueller-Enbergs and Cornelia Jabs, say they accidently uncovered information that the policeman, Karl-Heinz Kurras, was a so-called unofficial employee of the East German Ministry for State Security (MfS) and a member of the country's Socialist Unity Party (SED).

In reports published separately on Thursday by ZDF public television network and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper and based on the historians' findings, Kurras had been in the service of the Stasi secret police since 1955 and had been charged with spying on the West Berlin police.

Documents change a chapter in German history

The documents found in the archives of the Birthler Agency – the authority which manages files from the former East Germany – also contained a message radioed to Kurras by the MfS after the fatal shooting of Ohnesorg, which read: "Destroy all material. Cease work for now. View events as very regrettable accident."

Ohnesorg was shot to death in West Berlin on June 2, 1967 during a student protest against the Shah of Iran, who was visiting Germany at the time. His death triggered widespread and violent student protests across West Germany and helped fuel sympathies for the militant Red Army Faction and its up-and-coming first generation leaders, Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof and Gudrun Ensslin.

Espionage expert Mueller-Enbergs, told ZDF that there were no clues in the Stasi files that Kurras had been explicitly told to liquidate Ohnesorg. After the shooting, Kurras was tried for reckless manslaughter but acquitted due to a lack of evidence.

The new information raises the question: What would have happened to the German student protest movement of the late 1960s had people known that Ohnesorg's killer had been a spy for communist East Germany?

[iannima]

The new information raises the question: What would have happened to the German student protest movement of the late 1960s had people known that Ohnesorg's killer had been a spy for communist East Germany?

A most interesting question... the more so given that I have always thought that the West German full spectrum of 1968 protesters, from disgruntled students to RAF terrorists, would not have liked the DDR one bit... and least of all the DDR under Walter Ulbricht. That the Stasi found them useful is quite obvious...

[Kozlov]

I have always thought that the West German full spectrum of 1968 protesters, from disgruntled students to RAF terrorists, would not have liked the DDR one bit... and least of all the DDR under Walter Ulbricht. That the Stasi found them useful is quite obvious...

Oh of course! That is how many, many Stasi and KGB operations worked.

Next time you find someone who protested at Greenham Common against US Cruise Missiles, do tell them the entire project was funded by the KGB and money routed through the Stasi who had operational control of the operation.

Also, take a look at them and ask how long they would have survived under a state run by the Stasi/KGB... they would have been rounded up in the first 24hrs...

And is this true? Of course, one of my Genossen has a friend from the HVA who ran the Greenham Common gig

[Dag]

I agree with Kozlov's view. So far, nothing is proven apart from what is stated in the media. It sounds all a bit suspicious, considering that in the last few weeks several leading politicians made it clear that not everything in the DDR must be condemned - see several of the articles our friend ehrentitle posted here.
And suddenly (as it happened on several occasions before) the Birthler Agency pops up with some findings. How predictable.
It's election time soon in Germany!


To me, it smells a bit like WMD of Blair's fame.

[ehrentitle]

Probe into former West Berlin cop's Stasi past opened

Published: 25 May 09 14:08 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20090525-19493.html

Amid calls for a fresh investigation, Berlin’s interior senator Ehrhart Körting has opened a probe into the Stasi past of a former West Berlin police officer who infamously shot a student protester in 1967.

Speaking in the interior committee of the Berlin parliament on Monday, Körting said he had ordered authorities to reassess Karl-Heinz Kurras’ pension claims and examine his documents at the Office for Stasi Files (BStU).

The authorities “should check to see what proof the Office for Stasi Files has” and what “consequences it could lead to,” Körting said.

On June 1, 1967, Kurras, a West Berlin police officer, shot dead 26-year-old student Benno Ohnesorg during a violent anti-Iran demonstration in front of the German Opera House in Berlin’s Charlottenburg district. The killing made Ohnesorg a martyr and fuelled explosive leftist student protests against what they saw as a repressive state in the following years.

The circumstances of the incident have remained vague through the years. Kurras, now 81 and living in Berlin’s Spandau district, has been twice acquitted of negligent homicide in Ohnesorg’s death, once soon after the shooting in 1967 and again in 1970.

But last week, new evidence emerged showing that Kurras had worked as a spy for former Communist East Germany’s secret police – the Stasi.

The Office for Stasi Files in Berlin claims that Kurras may have been an unofficial agent for the Stasi beginning in the mid-1950s. He allegedly committed to spy on the West German police for the Stasi as an unofficial informant or IM under the pseudonym Otto Bohl. Further documents also show he was a member of the East German socialist party.

Over the weekend, several politicians called for a fresh investigation of the Kurras case in light of the new information.

Former German Interior Minister, Otto Schily, said the new Stasi revelations meant the case had to be "politically and legally re-evaluated."

"The files require a very precise re-examination," he said.

The chairman of the interior committee in the Berlin Parliament, Peter Trapp, called for a comprehensive investigation into the possible Stasi past of West German police.

Trapp said it was “unsatisfactory” that former West Berlin police officers had not been examined for a possible Stasi past after reunification in 1990.

“Those who were active as underground agents have to be revealed,” Trapp said.

[Dag]

Further documents also show he was a member of the East German socialist party.

Over the weekend, several politicians called for a fresh investigation of the Kurras case in light of the new information.

Former German Interior Minister, Otto Schily, said the new Stasi revelations meant the case had to be "politically and legally re-evaluated."

"The files require a very precise re-examination," he said.

The chairman of the interior committee in the Berlin Parliament, Peter Trapp, called for a comprehensive investigation into the possible Stasi past of West German police.

Trapp said it was “unsatisfactory” that former West Berlin police officers had not been examined for a possible Stasi past after reunification in 1990.

“Those who were active as underground agents have to be revealed,” Trapp said.

The reason for not checking officials in (West) Germany post 1990 is that it would be far tood amaging. It is not because there is no data available (Rosenholz-files) but it is very likely that a lot of people will suddenly find themselves in a light they don't want to be in.

By the way, so far it was always mentioned that kurras was a member of the SED - it might be of interest to some memebers here that until the late 60ies there was a SED in Westberlin! Only in 1970 or 71 (from the top of my head) did the SED Westberlin become the SEW.

Also of ineterst is a statement of H.Knabe who said in an interview that he is very worried about the sudden 'finding', considering that it is 20 years since the files became available. Furthermore, and that is a bit of a surprise to me. he also said in the interview that he does not believe he had the order to kill as this would not make any sense. The Stasi had someone in a position within the Westberlin Police which could deliver invaluable information for a long period so why would they risk the source?

[Kozlov]

The reason for not checking officials in (West) Germany post 1990 is that it would be far tood amaging. It is not because there is no data available (Rosenholz-files) but it is very likely that a lot of people will suddenly find themselves in a light they don't want to be in.

It surprises me the attitude taken here, when the policy persued against former Third Reich officials and workers was never this harsh - anyone who had carried out obvious attrocities was dealt with, but someone of this level of criminality (even assuming he was acting on direct orders) would have been ignored.

None the less, this whole case does sound a bit iffy in a political sense, what with the guy having been judged for the killing back then and let off. Does Germany have what we in the UK call "double jeopardy" - you cannot be tried for the same crime twice.

So it was ok for a West German policeman to have recklessly killed a leftist protestor, but not ok if he had done so because he worked for the Stasi????

[Dag]

He was already tried twice!!! and walked away twice.

[George Lepre]

Oh of course! That is how many, many Stasi and KGB operations worked.

Next time you find someone who protested at Greenham Common against US Cruise Missiles, do tell them the entire project was funded by the KGB and money routed through the Stasi who had operational control of the operation.

Also, take a look at them and ask how long they would have survived under a state run by the Stasi/KGB... they would have been rounded up in the first 24hrs...

And is this true? Of course, one of my Genossen has a friend from the HVA who ran the Greenham Common gig

Hi Kozlov -

Your message brought back some memories for me.

During the 1980s, I was assigned to an infantry battalion (2/4th Inf.) that guarded the three Pershing II nuclear missile sites in the BRD - Mutlangen, Lemgruebe, and Waldheide near Heilbronn. Each Easter, we were "locked in" and witnessed angry protests against these weapons. While some of these folks were sincere and possessed genuine fears about the arms race, we couldn't help but notice the large number participants who the Germans called Berufdemonstranten (literally, professional demonstrators). They were the ones who insulted us, threw snowballs at our guard towers in the wintertime, etc. At Mutlangen, they occupied a large house full time. We always wondered how they managed to do this without the pesky problem of having to work and where their funding came from.

In the 1990s, a documentary series called "Messengers from Moscow" confirmed our suspicions. Ex-Soviet diplomats admitted that the "peace movement" was subsidized by Moscow and the East Germans. The film even showed several Soviet officials actually marching incognito at protests in Europe against the planned neutron bomb and Pershing II.

But aside from these admissions, what really proved it to us was the fact that Pershing II was a response to the prior Soviet deployment of medium range SS-20 missiles in East Germany. When this deployment took place in the late 1970s, NOT A SINGLE WORD OF PROTEST WAS VOICED BY THE "PEACE MOVEMENT." When two small East German boys who were out playing wandered too close to a Soviet missile base near Bischofswerda, a Russian guard shot and killed both of them. Number of protests held by the "peace movement" against Soviet embassies in Bonn, Amsterdam, Paris, or London? None. If an American soldier had done such a thing near a U.S. missile base, we would never have heard the end of it.


Best regards,

George Lepre

[Kozlov]

You do know the task of the SS20 was to eliminate all NATO nuclear weapon related sites (launch, storage, command etc) in a single blow? That is what it was for...

I suspect if you were to discuss this with a protestor they would tell you it was NATO's fault for having nuclear weapons which made the Soviets react... and from a purely military viewpoint, this actually was true...

[George Lepre]

Hi Kozlov -

The peace movement's major complaint against the Pershing II was that the Americans and Soviets were making Western Europe the battleground for their superpower rivalry. I believe that this statement in itself possesses validity. But when the Berufdemonstranten made a career of insulting, protesting and demonstrating against one side while, conversely, taking absolutely no action toward the other, it strained their credibility.

George

[Kozlov]

Well yes, the idea of both the SS20 and the Pershing was to keep missile launches inside of Europe, thereby maybe keeping it only theatre nuclear and not going strategic... Maybe a good plan for USA and USSR, less fun for the rest of us

NATO were big into their idea of escalation, which of course the Soviets played along nicely with. Burning up Europe wouldnt have resulted in strikes against the Motherland in this way... well, not until they hit the UK or France anyway

[Soviet]

What is the Birthler Agency?

Referring to the first post, Benno Ohnesorg killing is illustrated in the movie Baader Meinhof Komplex. Not sure if the film as been translated yet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Baader_Meinhof_Komplex

[Kozlov]

I've seen it with english subtitles...

[ehrentitle]

What is the Birthler Agency?

Referring to the first post, Benno Ohnesorg killing is illustrated in the movie Baader Meinhof Komplex. Not sure if the film as been translated yet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Baader_Meinhof_Komplex

Apparently the Stasi Archive (BStU) is traditionally nicknamed after it's current director, which is Marianne Birthler. Thus the Birthler Agency.