Benno Ohnesorg (German pronunciation: , October 15, 1940 – June 2, 1967) was a German university student killed during a demonstration in West Berlin.
On June 2, 1967, Ohnesorg participated in a protest held near the Deutsche Oper, aimed against the state visit of the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was attending a performance of Mozart's The Magic Flute at the Deutsche Oper that night. It was the first political demonstration Ohnesorg had ever taken part in.
The protest turned violent after provocations by the Shah's agents and the police's overreacting. Demonstrators were then dispersed into the side streets. In the confusion in the courtyard of Krumme Strasse 66, Ohnesorg was then shot by plain-clothes police officer Karl-Heinz Kurras. Ohnesorg died before he could be operated on in the hospital. Kurras was cleared of all charges in two separate trials.
More than forty years later, it was revealed that Kurras was an undercover agent of the East German secret police Stasi, and a long-time member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, the East-German communist party; however, the motive behind Kurras' act remains unclear. The Stasi archives contain no evidence that Kurras was acting under their orders when he shot Ohnesorg.
Ohnesorg was a student of Romance and German studies. He was married and his wife was pregnant with their first child.
