'{{Short description|East German man who died trying to cross the Berlin Wall}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Other uses|Freudenberg}} {Infobox person | name = Winfried Freudenberg | image = Winfriedfreudenberg wallofrememberance.jpg | birth_date = {{Birth date|1956|08|29|df=yes}} | birth_place = [[Osterwieck]], [[East Germany]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|1989|03|08|1956|08|29|df=yes}} | death_place = [[Zehlendorf (Berlin)|Zehlendorf]], [[West Berlin]], [[West Germany]] | death_cause = Home-made gas balloon crash whilst attempting to leave [[East Berlin]]<br />{{Coord|52.4297|13.2239|display=inline|region:DE-BE_type:landmark|name=Empty balloon found in branches of a tree}} | body_discovered = Backyard of a garden villa in Zehlendorf<br />{{Coord|52.4394|13.2318|display=inline|region:DE-BE_type:landmark|name=Vicinity of Winfried Freudenberg crash site}} | party = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline}} --> | monuments = | occupation = [[Electrical engineering|Electrical Engineer]] | known_for = Last fatality in an attempt to defect from East Germany across the [[Berlin Wall]] }} '''Winfried Freudenberg''' (29 August 1956 &ndash; 8 March 1989) was the [[List of deaths at the Berlin Wall|last person to die]] in an attempt to escape from [[East Germany]] to [[West Berlin]] across the [[Berlin Wall]] as he fell from an improvised gas balloon at high altitude over West Berlin.<ref name=chron>{{cite web|url=http://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/index.php/de/Start/Detail/id/593906/page/2|publisher=Deutschlandradio|title=Chronicle of the Berlin Wall|author1=Martin Ahrends|author2=Udo Baron|author3=Hans-Hermann Hertle|name-list-style=amp|access-date=19 May 2009|archive-date=13 October 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091013093100/http://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/index.php/de/Start/Detail/id/593906/page/2|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,605967,00.html|title=Berlin Pays Tribute to Last Person Shot Crossing Wall|date=6 February 2009|publisher=Spiegel Online International|access-date=23 May 2009|archive-date=1 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301170236/http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,605967,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.randomhouse.de/Paperback/Ich-hatte-gehofft-wir-koennen-fliegen/Caroline-Labusch/Penguin/e543732.rhd|title=Sachbuch zum Fall Freudenberg "Ich hatte gehofft..."|date=17 May 2019|publisher=Penguin books|access-date=17 May 2019|archive-date=8 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191108070857/https://www.randomhouse.de/Paperback/Ich-hatte-gehofft-wir-koennen-fliegen/Caroline-Labusch/Penguin/e543732.rhd|url-status=live}}</ref> ==Biography== Freudenberg was born in [[Osterwieck]] and grew up in the [[Saxony-Anhalt]] town of [[Lüttgenrode]], near what was then the border between [[West Germany]] and his native [[East Germany]], a part of the [[communist state|communist]] [[Eastern Bloc]], as a [[satellite state]] of the [[Soviet Union]]. After completing an apprenticeship as an electrician, he obtained his secondary education diploma in [[night school]], then trained in information technology and received a diploma as an electronics engineer. In the autumn of 1988 he married his wife Sabine, a chemist he had met while both were students at [[Technische Universität Ilmenau|Ilmenau University]]. With the erection of The Wall, East Germany cut them off from the professional opportunities that existed in the West, and the couple, especially Winfried, had become increasingly disappointed about being unable to cross the border.<ref name=chron/> Immediately after the wedding the two began planning their escape to the West via a homemade [[balloon (aeronautics)|balloon]] filled with [[natural gas]]<ref name=chron/> (because its main component, [[methane]], is [[lighter than air]], natural gas can serve as a [[lifting gas]]). ==Escape attempt and death== As part of their plan, Freudenberg took a job in a public utility that supplied natural gas, and the couple took an apartment in the [[East Berlin]] neighborhood of [[Prenzlauer Berg]]. In January and February 1989, they began assembling a 13-metre (43') tall by 11 metre (36') diameter balloon envelope out of [[polyethylene]], which they cut into strips, taped together, and engirded with a string net. There was no basket, only a narrow wooden beam. On the evening of 7 March, they decided that the wind conditions were favourable for their escape. They drove to a pressure regulating station in the [[Blankenburg (Berlin)|Blankenburg]] neighborhood to which Freudenberg had the keys and at midnight began to fill their balloon with gas. From some time after 1:00&nbsp;a.m. the balloon was visible from a distance. A waiter on his way home from work, which had ended at 1:30&nbsp;a.m., noticed the balloon and called the ''[[Volkspolizei]]''. When the couple heard a patrol car arriving shortly after 2:00&nbsp;a.m., the balloon was not yet completely filled. Because they feared it would not lift both of them, and Sabine was always doubtful, they quickly decided Freudenberg would escape alone.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/der-ddr-entkommen-flucht-ueber-den-geteilten-himmel/9559152.html|publisher=Der Tagesspiegel|title=Flucht über den geteilten Himmel|author=Nowakowski, Gerd|date=8 March 2014|access-date=21 January 2017|archive-date=11 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011105039/http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/der-ddr-entkommen-flucht-ueber-den-geteilten-himmel/9559152.html|url-status=live}}</ref> He occupied the beam and cut the tethers. With only one person aboard, the balloon had a very high [[buoyancy]] and rose fast. Ballast bags hanging down on ropes severed a power line shortly after launching, and caused it to short-cut and spark. Although East German security had often shot and killed citizens attempting to escape, they decided against shooting because of the possibility of triggering an explosion of the natural gas now leaking. Also, they believed Freudenberg had been killed by the current (which was not the case). 23-year-old Sabine was able to get back home, where the [[Stasi]] were already waiting for her.<ref name=chron/> [[File:Schlachtensee Limastraße-001.jpg|thumb|Freudenburg's body was found in the garden of a villa on Limastrasse in [[Zehlendorf (Berlin)|Zehlendorf]]]] The improvised balloon had too much [[buoyancy]] and, because it lacked a properly working valve, it rose quickly and much higher than planned. Freudenberg couldn't sink and spent more than five hours aloft. At first, his course was west-south-west. With wind velocities of about 20&nbsp;km/h (12&nbsp;mph) at the time he must have reached [[West Berlin]] after about 20 minutes. Later, Freudenberg passed over the [[Berlin Tegel Airport]] where he lost or dropped some ballast. His altitude must at this point have increased to more than 2,000 meters (6,500 feet), as his course now changed to south due to different direction of higher altitude winds. The balloon was sighted over [[Teufelsberg]] hill at dawn, where it was mistaken for a weather balloon. Shortly before flying into East German territory again, at 7:30, Freudenberg fell into the garden of a villa in the suburb of [[Zehlendorf (Berlin)|Zehlendorf]]. The remains of the balloon came down about one kilometer (1000 yards) away on the median strip of a thoroughfare. Freudenberg's body was discovered hours later in the garden of a villa on Limastrasse.<ref name=chron/> He evidently died instantly from injuries sustained in the crash.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/revealed-tragic-victims-of-the-berlin-wall-411504.html|work=The Independent|title=Revealed: Tragic victims of the Berlin Wall|author=Tony Paterson|date=12 August 2006|access-date=28 October 2017|archive-date=23 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171123002649/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/revealed-tragic-victims-of-the-berlin-wall-411504.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Nearly every bone in his body had been broken, and virtually every internal organ had been damaged.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q9NJVstXCXMC&dq=%22Winfried+Freudenberg%22&pg=PA430 |title=The Victims at the Berlin Wall 1961-1989: A Biographical Handbook |isbn=9783861536321 |access-date=26 October 2016 |archive-date=14 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170214234131/https://books.google.com/books?id=Q9NJVstXCXMC&pg=PA430&lpg=PA430&dq=%22Winfried+Freudenberg%22&source=bl&ots=7gYDh3P4ea&sig=alPPaDIlu5JptqNw5Yv_095SoTI&hl=en&ei=qzFeTpe4JcfTiALIjY2zBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=%22Winfried%20Freudenberg%22&f=false |url-status=live |last1=Baron |first1=Udo |year=2011 |publisher=Ch. Links Verlag }}</ref> The direct cause of the crash is unclear. West Berlin police supposed that Freudenberg climbed the net to cut the envelope, obviously succeeded, and in the ensuing events lost his hold.<ref name=chron/> After the incident, East German police investigated Freudenberg's friends, family, acquaintances, colleagues, and wife, to determine whether any had participated in the escape attempt. Because of international attention and pressure over the recent shooting of [[Chris Gueffroy]], the last refugee to be shot by East German border guards, Sabine was given the relatively lenient sentence of three years of probation and then granted [[amnesty]] in October 1989. The next month, East Germany began allowing its citizens to travel to the west, and several months later, the [[Berlin Wall]] was dismantled and the two countries [[German reunification|reunified]].<ref name=chron/> ==References== {{reflist}} ==See also== {{Commons category}} * [[East German balloon escape]] * [[List of deaths at the Berlin Wall]] * [[Berlin Crisis of 1961]] {{Berlin Wall}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Freudenberg, Winfried}} [[Category:1956 births]] [[Category:1989 deaths]] [[Category:Deaths at the Berlin Wall]] [[Category:Last events]] [[Category:People from Osterwieck]] [[Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Germany]] [[Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1989]] [[Category:People from Bezirk Magdeburg]] [[Category:East German defectors]]'