19 September 1961 · Window jumps

A young man misses the window frame and falls three storeys

Discovered on a roof by the border, a young man swung over the edge, missed his foothold and fell three floors; West Berlin paramedics picked him up with several broken bones.

At midday on 19 September 1961 residents of Ackerstraße 42 alerted the border police because they had heard suspicious noises in the attic. The guards found a young man on the roof of the neighbouring house, which stood right on the border.

Ordered to stop, he swung himself over the edge of the roof and tried to find a foothold in the window below. He missed the window frame and fell three storeys to the pavement.

West Berlin paramedics recovered him with several broken bones.

Sources

  1. Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer – Bereich B: Die Zerstörung der Stadt (Orientierungsplan und Ereignismarken), marker B 363, B 367Stiftung Berliner Mauer
  2. B 363 – Digital Guide, Berlin Wall MemorialStiftung Berliner Mauer
  3. B 367 – Digital Guide, Berlin Wall MemorialStiftung Berliner Mauer

Spotted an error, or know more about this story? Email us a correction or addition

  1. 19 September 1961

    Five escapees rope down from the roof of Bernauer Straße 43

    Four men and a woman crossed the rooftops, tied a rope to a chimney and let themselves down to the western pavement; the woman fell from the third-floor level and was badly hurt, and another woman was caught in the attic.

    Window jumps · Some got through · Mitte

  2. 15 October 1961

    The rope snaps at Ackerstraße 43

    A man lowering himself from a second-floor staircase window fell when his rope broke; passers-by carried him across the street.

    Window jumps · Reached the West · Mitte

  3. 27 October 1961

    Over the roofs from Ackerstraße 41 with a washing line

    Two men climbed across the roofs, let themselves down on a washing line to the roof of the corner house and waited for morning; one jumped into a fire brigade net, the other was never noticed.

    Window jumps · Reached the West · Mitte

  4. 22 August 1961

    A pretend visitor jumps from Bernauer Straße 7

    Claiming to be visiting someone, a young woman talked her way past the rear guard posts, then jumped from a first-floor window two hours later.

    Window jumps · Reached the West · Mitte