# Were the East German Guards on the Berlin Wall ever tried for War Crimes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 10, 2014, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-east-german-guards-on-the-berlin-wall-ever-tried-for-war-crimes/704270 "2014-11-10T20:43:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-east-german-guards-on-the-berlin-wall-ever-tried-for-war-crimes/704270/1 "2014-11-10T20:43:42Z")
East German Guards on the Berlin enforced a shoot to kill no mans land along the Berlin Wall. Their aim was quite accurate. Were they ever charged and tried for these killings? How about the Stasi - East German Secret Police? Were they held accountable for their actions against their people? I can recall seeing quite a few stories about No Mans Land and the desperate attempts people made to escape to West Berlin. There was even a spy tunnel underneath the wall that was in operation for years before getting discovered. I think that was a 60 Minutes Segment in the early 80’s. Same thing with the Stasi. The tv news magazines did profiles on them many times in the 70’s and early 80’s. The question about holding people accountable for war crimes seemed appropriate since today is the anniversary of the wall coming down. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-east-german-guards-on-the-berlin-wall-ever-tried-for-war-crimes/704270/2 "2014-11-10T20:59:30Z")
No Mans Land or the Death Strip. Bolding is mine. > **[Berlin Wall](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall)** > > The Berlin Wall (German: Berliner Mauer, .mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}pronounced \[bɛʁˌliːnɐ ˈmaʊɐ\] ⓘ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany).\[a\] Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the gove Th... > [@](#): > > The Berlin Wall was more than 140 kilometres (87 mi) long. In June 1962, a second, parallel fence was built some 100 metres (110 yd) farther into East German territory. The houses contained between the fences were razed and the inhabitants relocated, thus establishing what later became known as the Death Strip. The Death Strip was covered with raked sand or gravel, rendering footprints easy to notice, easing the detection of trespassers and also enabling officers to see which guards had neglected their task;[54] it offered no cover; and,\*\* most importantly, it offered clear fields of fire for the wall guards. > \*\* > Through the years, the Berlin Wall evolved through four versions: > > ``` > Wire fence (1961) > Improved wire fence (1962–1965) > Concrete wall (1965–1975) > Grenzmauer 75 (Border Wall 75) (1975–1989) > > ``` ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-east-german-guards-on-the-berlin-wall-ever-tried-for-war-crimes/704270/3 "2014-11-10T21:06:14Z")
I recently saw a documentary on this, several guards were indeed tried but for unity and humanitarian reasons a few were found guilty of Manslaughter (not murder) and their sentences suspended in most cases; however some former East German leaders were found guilty and they did had to serve time. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAme6EcOAf4) The Historian being interviewed comments on this at 40:30 ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-east-german-guards-on-the-berlin-wall-ever-tried-for-war-crimes/704270/4 "2014-11-10T21:25:24Z")
Why would it be any more appropriate to try them for “war crimes” than, say, American police who shoot criminals (confine it to “good kills” if you want), or come to that, American executioners who execute convicted criminals? For a start it was not a war crime because there was no war going on. More importantly, they were enforcing the laws of their country against criminals who were knowingly and deliberately breaking the law, and who knew the consequences. You do not get to call people war criminals just because they were enforcing laws you don’t happen to approve of, enacted by a former government that you and your government didn’t happen to approve of. Admittedly , in a sense, many things that are considered war crimes could be characterized that way, but hat is why we normally limit the notion to very extreme examples, such as mass killings of people who have not deliberately put themselves in conflict with their country’s laws. Jews in the Nazi empire could not help being Jews, and were killed _en masse_, by the millions. People trying to defect from East Germany _could_ help the fact that they were trying to defect, and were killed, when they were, one at a time. Even then, there was (rightly) a lot of hand wringing amongst the victorious allied powers about condemning officials who were, quite genuinely in many cases, only following orders that they wold have been killed for disobeying. (No doubt the East German border guards, too, would have been executed, or, t any rate, severely punished, if they had been caught not carrying out their duties zealously.) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-east-german-guards-on-the-berlin-wall-ever-tried-for-war-crimes/704270/5 "2014-11-10T21:53:47Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > I recently saw a documentary on this, several guards were indeed tried but for unity and humanitarian reasons a few were found guilty of Manslaughter (not murder) and their sentences suspended in most cases; however some former East German leaders were found guilty and they did had to serve time. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAme6EcOAf4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAme6EcOAf4) > > The Historian being interviewed comments on this at 40:30 This addresses my question. Thank you GIGObuster