Berlin Wall Escapes1961–1989

10 April 1962 · Window jumps

A nine-year-old jumps from the roof of Bernauer Straße 44

On 10 April 1962 a nine-year-old schoolboy jumped from the roof of Bernauer Straße 44 into the West Berlin fire brigade's jumping sheet. Border guards stopped a second child of the same age.

Sepia photo of an old tram on a cobbled street, with tall tenement houses whose ground-floor windows are bricked up on the right and a screen wall across the street behind.
A West Berlin tram at the corner of Bernauer Straße and Wolliner Straße on 8 June 1962, two months after the boy's jump; on the right are the East Berlin border houses with bricked-up windows, the row that included no. 44 Photo: Sigurd Hilkenbach. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Bernauer Straße 44 was a border house on the line between Mitte and Wedding. Bernd Lünser had fallen to his death from its roof in October 1961.

On 10 April 1962 a nine-year-old schoolboy jumped from the roof of the house into a jumping sheet held by the West Berlin fire brigade. He was taken to the Lazarus hospital with a bruised back. The West Berlin police thought his likely reason for fleeing was that he was about to be placed in a children's home.

A second child of the same age also wanted to jump, but border guards stopped it.

Sources

  1. Report of the West Berlin Schutzpolizei for April 1962Chronik der Mauer (document: Polizeihistorische Sammlung des Polizeipräsidenten in Berlin)

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

Related escapes

  1. 19 September 1961

    Three generations jump into the net at Bernauer Straße 10

    At about 11.30 p.m. Mrs K., her daughter-in-law and her grandson Detlef jumped from the second floor into a West Berlin fire brigade net.

    Window jumps · Reached the West · Mitte

  2. 29 January 1962

    Fake chimney sweep abseils from Bernauer Straße 13

    Dressed as a chimney sweep, a young man walked past the guards into an emptied border house, broke through a bricked-up attic window and let himself down on his sweep's rope.

    Window jumps · Reached the West · Mitte

  3. 19 February 1962

    Scraping out the mortar by candlelight at Bernauer Straße 46

    Guards found a hole broken through a bricked-up first-floor window; a man had apparently scratched out the joints with nails by candlelight and jumped.

    Window jumps · Reached the West · Mitte

  4. 17 September 1962

    West Berlin police open a cellar window for three young men

    While a West Berlin officer held the guards' observation post at gunpoint, police broke open a walled-up cellar window and three young men climbed out.

    Window jumps · Reached the West · Mitte