Karl-Heinz Kurras

Karl-Heinz Kurras (born December 1, 1927 in Barten, East Prussia, died December 16, 2014 in Berlin) was a Berlin police Inspector who served during the Cold War. During the 1950's and '60's, he also committed espionage for the East German Stasi.

Biography

West Berlin Police officer Karl-Heinz Kurras approached the East German communist regime in 1955, expressing a desire to defect. He was convinced to remain in West Berlin and to work as an informant for the Stasi. As a spy, he handed over confidential information from the West Berlin police to the East German authorities. He secretly became a member of East Germany's ruling Socialist Unity Party (SED) in 1964. Kurras became known for fatally shooting unarmed student Benno Ohnesorg during a demonstration on June 2, 1967, outside Deutsche Oper against the state visit of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran. Kurras was acquitted of any wrongdoing in a controversial trial. Due to the publicity the case was receiving, the Stasi cut its ties to Kurras.

The Federal Court of Justice subsequently ruled that the first court had failed to consider all the available evidence and ordered a new trial. Kurras was acquitted for a second time and thus became a hate figure for increasingly radicalized West German Marxists. The incident is considered pivotal for the rise of Marxist death squads in West Germany during the 1970s, culminating with the Movement 2 June and the Red Army Faction.

In 1971 he rejoined the police force and was subsequently promoted to Detective Chief Inspector (German language: Kriminaloberkommissar). He retired from the Berlin Police in 1987.

In an interview in 2007, he defended his decision to use lethal force against Ohnesorg, whom he accused of attacking him. He boasted, "Anyone who attacks me is destroyed. Off. Lights out. You can tell from that." (German language: "Wer mich angreift, wird vernichtet. Aus. Feierabend. So ist das zu sehen.")

In May 2009, it was revealed that Kurras was an informant for the East German secret police, the Stasi, There is no evidence however of a link between the shooting of Ohnessorg and Kurras' espionage activities. When asked about the exposure of his Stasi and Communist past, he stated that he was not ashamed of having been a member of the East German communist party.

In January 2012, an investigation carried out by federal prosecutors and Der Spiegel magazine ruled that the shooting of Ohnesorg was not in self-defence and was certainly premeditated. Newly examined film and photographic evidence also implicate fellow officers and superiors, proving that the West Berlin Police covered up the truth in order to protect one of their own. Additionally, medical staff who carried out the post mortem on Ohnesorg were pressured to falsify their report. However, for reasons of double jeopardy, the case is no charges are likely to be refiled.