Karl-Heinz Richter

Karl-Heinz Richter was born in Schwarzheide (Brandenburg) in 1946. After finishing secondary school, he began training as an office machine mechanic in East Berlin. In January 1964, he planned his escape together with other young people. He tried to jump onto a night train travelling from East Berlin to the West behind Berlin-Friedrichsstraße station. His escape was unsuccessful and he was seriously injured.

A few days after his escape attempt, Karl-Heinz Richter was arrested by State Security and imprisoned at the remand centre in Kissingenstraße (Berlin-Pankow). Sentenced to eight months for an "attempted escape from the Republic", he was released after six months in July 1964 due to his poor state of health. After his imprisonment, he completed his apprenticeship and worked as a fitter, among other things.

In 1974, Karl-Heinz Richter applied to leave the country and was allowed to leave the GDR a year and a half later with his wife and daughter. In West Berlin, he worked as a lorry driver and helped 21 people escape by hiding them in his truck.

Karl-Heinz Richter lived abroad for a long time and returned to Berlin in 2004. He has been guiding groups of visitors through the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial site since 2008 and has been working for the Coordinating Office of Contemporary Witnesses at schools and educational institutions since XXXX.