Bernd Lünser's fatal rooftop jump
Chased across the rooftops by border guards, 22-year-old student Bernd Lünser jumped from the roof of Bernauer Straße 44 and missed the fire brigade net by a few metres.
Bernd Lünser, born in 1939, lived in East Berlin but had been studying civil engineering at a college in West Berlin-Neukölln since 1959. After the border closure he was determined to get back to his studies in time for the new semester.
Towards evening on 4 October 1961 he climbed onto a roof in Swinemünder Straße, planning to cross the roofs to the corner house at Bernauer Straße 44. Border guards spotted him and chased him. He called down to people in West Berlin: 'Help me, I want to jump!' West Berlin firefighters spread out a rescue net.
On the roof he struggled with one of his pursuers. Shots were fired from the eastern side and hit West Berlin territory, and West Berlin police fired back; it was the first exchange of fire at the Berlin Wall. Lünser broke free and jumped, but missed the net by a few metres and was killed on the pavement.
He was buried on 11 October 1961 in the cemetery on Bergstraße in Steglitz; East Berlin authorities refused to let his mother attend. Investigations later disproved the long-held belief that a second escapee had been on the roof with him.
Sources
- Lünser, BerndChronik der Mauer
- Lünser, Bernd (Deutsch)Chronik der Mauer
- Die Bernauer StraßeStiftung Berliner Mauer
Spotted an error, or know more about this story? Email us a correction or addition
Related escapes
22 September 1961
Family F. jumps under fire from the third floor
While a border policeman fired a warning shot and West Berlin police answered with tear gas, a mother jumped into the fire brigade's net; her husband threw down their five-year-old son and then jumped himself.
25 September 1961
Olga Segler's jump into the fire brigade net
Encouraged by her daughter waiting below, 80-year-old Olga Segler jumped from her second-floor window into a fire brigade net. She died the next day.
19 August 1961
Rudolf Urban's rope descent from Bernauer Straße 1
Rudolf Urban and his wife let themselves down on a rope from their first-floor flat; he was badly injured and died in hospital four weeks later.
22 August 1961
Ida Siekmann, first death at the Berlin Wall
Nine days after the border was sealed, the 58-year-old nurse jumped from her third-floor window onto the West Berlin pavement and died of her injuries.
