Klaus-Michael von Keussler

Biographical information

1939 Born in Königsberg/East Prussia (today Kaliningrad)
1944 Father died in the Soviet Union during World War II; the family escaped via several detours from the burning city of Königsberg to the Berlin suburb of Königs-Wusterhausen
1945–1959 Attended primary school in Berlin and then classical language grammar schools in Rhöndorf, Bonn, Krefeld, Cologne
1959–1960 Military service with the West German Army (Bundeswehr), reserve officer
1960–1965 Studied law and political economy at the University of Hamburg (UHH) and at Freie Universität Berlin (FU)
1965 and 1969 First and second state examination in law in West Berlin
1967 Married Ute Berg-Leonhardy
1969–1992 Worked for the federal state authorities (Berlin Senate), federal authorities (Federal Audit Office, Frankfurt am Main) and institutions for international cooperation (Deutsche Stiftung für Entwicklungsländer [German Foundation for International Development], Deutscher Entwicklungsdienst [DED, German Development Service], Friedrich Naumann Foundation, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit [today, GIZ, German Society for Development Cooperation])
1972–1977 Worked as an advisor for the chamber of commerce and at the Institute of Public Administration in Indonesia
1989–1992 Worked as a Senior Auditor with the United Nations (including in Ethiopia, Botswana, Bangladesh and New York)
1992 Relocated to Erfurt/Thuringia
1992–2005 Held executive positions in the Thuringian Ministry of Federal and European Affairs and Ministry of Finance
2003–2005 Conducted consultancy work for the GIZ in Podgorica/Montenegro
2012 Awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
2016–2021 Member of the historical advisory board at the Stiftung Ettersberg
Until 2021 Chairman of the organisation Freiheit e. V. – Förderverein Gedenkstätte Andreasstraße
Until today Civic engagement in various areas, including as a legal guardian of refugee minors

Profile

Klaus-Michael von Keussler has witnessed many of the turning points in Berlin’s 20^th-century history first hand. At the end of the war in 1945, he experienced the dissolution of the German army and the arrival of the Soviet army, and, only three years later, the Berlin Blockade.
Living in divided Berlin during the 1960s, the most memorable episodes for him were the construction of the Berlin Wall (1961), his involvement as an escape helper for GDR citizens trying to get to the West, and the student protests of 1968. It was his idealism that drove him to become an active escape helper during his student days (including building tunnels, the last of which was the famous "Tunnel 57"). In so doing, von Keussler was simply responding to the calls for help from GDR citizens, and at the same time saw his activism as political protest against the construction of the Berlin Wall.
As a member of the SPD in West Berlin, von Keussler was an active supporter of Willy Brandt’s and Egon Bahr’s new eastern policy (Neue Ostpolitik) during the early 1970s. Due to an arrest warrant issued by the GDR’s state security service, he could not leave West Berlin to travel to West Germany by land (via the transit routes passing through GDR territory) until 1978. By maintaining close and frequent contact with countless escaped GDR citizens and former political prisoners who had been released in a Häftlingsfreikauf (prisoners’ ransom), he had access to authentic sources of information on which to base an informed opinion.
When the Berlin Wall came down on 9 November 1989, he was working for the United Nations (UN) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Yet only a few days later, he was able to sit atop the Wall himself. Still later, on 3 October 1990, he was present when the legal reunification of the two German states was sealed at the UN General Assembly in New York – an event which to him marks the most important date in German post-war history.
His relocation to Erfurt in 1992 offered the long-desired opportunity to get to know the other part of Germany better. He started to dedicate his time to studying the injustices of the SED regime. Until 2021, he was the chairman of the organisation Freiheit e. V. – Förderverein Gedenkstätte Andreasstraße. In his role as a contemporary witness, Mr von Keussler visits schools and participates in a wide range of events.
He is married with two daughters and five grandchildren.

Berichte (Auswahl)

„Drei Jahrzehnte im Osten“ – Klaus-Michael von Keussler blickt auf seine Zeit in Thüringen zurück. Artikel von Hanno Müller, Thüringische Landeszeitung, 15.02.2023.
„Virtually History. The Berlin Wall“ – Virtual Reality-Beitrag, in dem auch über Klaus-Michael von Keussler und den „Tunnel 57“ berichtet wird. Reel Truth History Documentaries/Remarkable Television, 2019.
„'Fluchthilfe war auch eine Form von politischem Widerstand'“ – Interview mit Klaus-Michael von Keussler anlässlich 30 Jahre Mauerfall. Artikel von Wolfgang Hauskrecht, Münchner Merkur, 06.11.2019.
„Tod an der Mauer – wie an wen erinnert werden sollte. Ein Wahl-Thüringer macht die Perspektiven auf DDR-Grenzsoldaten 30 Jahre nach dem Fall der Berliner Mauer zum Thema“. Artikel von Gerlinde Sommer, Thüringische Landeszeitung, 05.10.2019.
„03.10.1964 – Fertigstellung von 'Tunnel 57'“. Audio-Beitrag von Thomas Klug (Redaktion: Ronald Feisel), WDR ZeitZeichen, 03.10.2019.
„Fluchthelfer grub mehrere Tunnel in den Westen“ – Klaus-Michael von Keussler war als Zeitzeuge in der Fachoberschule Kitzingen zu Gast. Artikel von Franziska Schmitt, Main-Post, 13.06.2019.
„Hoffnung für das geteilte Berlin. Das erste Passierscheinabkommen von 1963“ – In den Beitrag von Sonja Hugi auf der Internetseite www.chronik-der-mauer.de ist ein Gesprächsausschnitt mit Klaus-Michael von Keussler eingebunden. Das Interview führte Lydia Dollmann am 27.01.2017 für die Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer.
„Klaus Von Keussler: The Story of A Tunnel Digger“. Bericht von Sara Richards, National Public Radio (NPR, Berlin), 30.10.2009.