Kurt Lichtenstein (Born 1 December 1911 Berlin, Died 12 October 1961 inner German border in Klötze) was a communist journalist, and his death was a notable result of the German Democratic Republic's border control policies. Lichtenstein was the first man shot on the inner German border after the establishment of the Berlin Wall in August 1961. The circumstances were revisited in a criminal trial in 1997. The two defendants were acquitted of manslaughter.