A former East German secret police officer has been handed a 10-year prison sentence for the 1974 murder of a Polish man attempting to escape to West Berlin. Identified as Martin Manfred N, the 80-year-old defendant shot Czeslaw Kukuczka in the back at Friedrichstrasse station while Kukuczka sought refuge after entering the Polish embassy, falsely claiming to possess a bomb.
For decades, the details surrounding Kukuczka’s murder remained obscure, as crucial files related to the case were destroyed by the Stasi secret police prior to Germany’s reunification in 1991. In 2023, Berlin prosecutors initiated charges against Manfred N following extensive investigations by historians and Polish authorities.
On March 29, 1974, Kukuczka, a 38-year-old firefighter and father of three, entered the Polish embassy on Unter den Linden boulevard with a briefcase and demanded to be allowed to leave for West Germany. Stasi officers provided him with an exit visa and some West German currency, escorting him to the Friedrichstrasse station. There, Kukuczka passed numerous border checks, but moments before reaching the western section of the station, he was shot from behind.
The shocking event was witnessed by a group of schoolchildren from Hesse in West Germany, one of whom testified that she saw the shooting and noted how “people in uniform” quickly sealed off the area. Historians, in their quest to uncover the truth, located previously hidden files in the Stasi archives. These documents, which linked Manfred N to the murder, were reconstructed using specialized equipment after having been destroyed.
Kukuczka’s family remained unaware of his fate following the incident, with his ashes sent to his wife weeks after his death. The resurfacing of this case gained traction following a European arrest warrant issued by Poland for Manfred N in 2021.
The trial has been viewed as historically significant, analogous to the proceedings against surviving Holocaust perpetrators. Throughout the legal process, Martin Manfred N has maintained his innocence, with his lawyer asserting that there is insufficient evidence linking him to the crime.
East Germany emerged from the Soviet-occupied territories following the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945, operating as a communist regime in stark contrast to the democratic and capitalist West Germany. The two nations were reunified in 1991, giving rise to present-day Germany.
