GDR escape attempts: facts and fates on the Baltic Sea revealed

GDR escape attempts: facts and fates on the Baltic Sea revealed

On April 30, 2025, an important research result was presented that documents the fatal escapes of GDR citizens across the Baltic Sea between 1961 and 1989. A team led by Prof. Dr. Hubertus Buchstein from the University of Greifswald examined the biographies and fates of 135 documented deaths in the course of escape attempts. The publication is entitled “Deadly Baltic Sea Escapes from the GDR 1961 – 1989. A Biographical Handbook” and sheds light on the tragic background of these escape attempts.

Most fatal escape attempts occurred in the first two years after the Wall was built, particularly in 1961 and 1962. The victims were primarily teenagers and young men between the ages of 16 and 30, while women only made up around ten percent of the victims. Merete Peetz, a research associate on the project, emphasizes the importance of the feedback from relatives and friends for the research and emphasizes that the victims' biographies have fundamentally changed the research team's view of the Baltic Sea.

Research project background

The project is part of the nationwide initiative to investigate deaths at the GDR border, which was carried out at the University of Greifswald from 2018 to 2023. During this time, 657 deaths on the Baltic Sea coast were examined in detail. Of these cases, 135 were identified with a high degree of certainty as escape attempts; There are strong indications of such a background in over 100 others. The project was about to be closed at the beginning of 2023 due to expiring federal funding, but the state government secured its continuation with 100,000 euros.

The book was published by the State Center for Civic Education and is available in the online shop. They contain the personal fates and biographies of those affected, which illustrate the extent of the tragedies. The price for the volume is 25 euros and makes the important information available to the public.

Public Announcements

A keynote speech by the research team will take place on May 15, 2025 at 4:00 p.m. in lecture hall 2 at Ernst-Lohmeyer-Platz 6 in Greifswald. State Secretary Susanne Bowen describes the refugee movements as an expression of the will for freedom and criticizes the rigid repression by the SED. This perspective complements the project's intention to show respect and compassion for the victims and to correct false information from GDR files.

The research results and a series of interviews can be viewed online and keep the memory of the victims' fates alive. The entire process enhances the often unknown stories of the refugees and creates awareness of the historical background of these escape attempts. uni-greifswald.de reports that this comprehensive documentation is of great relevance to both science and the public. Also ndr.de emphasizes that the book provides key information on a previously little-explored part of the GDR's history.