"Ihr Tod ist uns Verpflichtung": Pioneers at the border-troops memorial, Berlin
Children in white blouses and neckerchiefs stand in silence before a stone memorial carved 'Ihr Tod ist uns Verpflichtung' ('Their death is an obligation to us') above a list of names, with flowers and a flame bowl at its foot. The tell is in the agency caption, which dates the wreath-laying to the 25th anniversary of the 'antifascist protective wall' and names the school after a border guard, so the children's reverence attaches to the border.
- Date
- August 13, 1986
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- ADN-Zentralbild (GDR state news agency), photographer Peer Grimm; ceremony by Young Pioneers of the Reinhold-Huhn-Oberschule, Berlin-Mitte, at a GDR border-troops memorial
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- East Germany
- Medium
- Photograph
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- German Democratic Republic
- Leader
- Erich Honecker
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Commemorate
- Themes
- Security and surveillance, Migration
- Event
- Berlin Wall Construction
- Techniques
- Euphemism / doublespeakTransfer
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Bundesarchiv (German Federal Archive), Bild 183-1986-0813-027, via Wikimedia Commons, retrieved September 29, 2026
- Rights
- CC BY-SA 3.0 de (Bundesarchiv release via Wikimedia Commons; file page states licence and attribution)
Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-1986-0813-027 / Peer Grimm / CC-BY-SA 3.0
Text on the object
[Memorial, upper block:] Ihr Tod ist uns Verpflichtung [Memorial, name plate, partly legible at this resolution:] Uffz. Reinhold Huhn Mjr. Helmut Just - Uffz. Jürgen Schmidtchen Uffz. Peter Göring Uffz. Egon Schultz - Uffz. Siegfried Widera Uffz. Rolf Henniger - Uffz. [illegible, partly hidden by flowers]
[Memorial, upper block:] Their death is an obligation to us [Memorial, name plate:] NCO Reinhold Huhn Major Helmut Just - NCO Jürgen Schmidtchen NCO Peter Göring NCO Egon Schultz - NCO Siegfried Widera NCO Rolf Henniger - NCO [illegible] (Uffz. = Unteroffizier, non-commissioned officer; Mjr. = Major)
The inscription in the upper block is sharp. The five name lines are small and soft at this resolution, and the last line is partly hidden by flowers; surnames are read from the committed image and a magnified crop, and individual letters (for example in 'Schmidtchen', 'Widera', 'Henniger') may be misread. Line breaks follow the plate.
