Berlin Wall Escapes1961–1989

4 September 1962 · Over the wall

Ernst Mundt shot on the Sophien cemetery wall

Ernst Mundt, 40, climbed onto the glass-topped wall of the Sophien cemetery on Bernauer Straße and was shot in the head by a transport police officer.

A rust-coloured steel memorial wall with rows of small portrait windows; one shows a black-and-white portrait of Ernst Mundt
Ernst Mundt's portrait in the 'Window of Remembrance' at the Berlin Wall Memorial, Bernauer Straße (2015) Photo: Brewer Bob. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Ernst Mundt was born on 2 December 1921 in Bad Polzin in Eastern Pomerania. A single man living on a disability pension in a small flat in Prenzlauer Berg, he was cut off from his relatives in West Berlin when the Wall was built.

On the afternoon of 4 September 1962 he cycled to the Sophien cemetery, left his bicycle on Bergstraße and climbed onto the cemetery wall, which was topped with broken glass. He ran along the top of the wall towards the border.

A long grey concrete wall section seen across the grounds of a cemetery, with bare winter trees
The surviving section of the Berlin Wall at Bernauer Straße seen from the Sophien cemetery, on whose wall Ernst Mundt was shot in 1962 (photographed 2008) Photo: Jörg Zägel. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

At about 2:20 p.m. a transport police officer posted roughly 100 metres away at Nordbahnhof station fired a warning shot and then fired at him. Mundt fell from the wall among the graves. Witnesses remembered 'the man with the cap': his cap flew off and landed on the western side, and it was later found to have a bullet hole, showing he had been shot in the head.

The East German authorities rewarded the gunman with a bonus and the 'Medal for Exemplary Service at the Border'. Mundt's body was removed quickly and later cremated anonymously.

More than thirty years later, on 4 July 1994, the Berlin district court convicted the former officer of manslaughter and gave him a two-year suspended sentence.

Sources

  1. Mundt, ErnstChronik der Mauer

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

Related escapes

  1. 10 June 1962

    Helmut P. is shot at but gets over the cemetery wall

    Helmut P. chose the Sophien cemetery for its cover; two guards at Ackerstraße fired as he pulled himself up the wall, but he got over, wounded.

    Over the wall · Reached the West · Mitte

  2. 26 October 1962

    Two young men swing over the Sophien cemetery wall under fire

    Shortly before midnight two men in their early twenties used the cover of the cemetery to reach the Wall; guards at Ackerstraße 42 fired, but both got to West Berlin.

    Over the wall · Reached the West · Mitte

  3. 2 July 1962

    Truck driver Günter P. climbs the Wall on his first day at the site

    On his first day on a guarded demolition site, a driver climbed the Wall while another truck blocked the guards' view.

    Over the wall · Reached the West · Mitte

  4. 19 February 1962

    Dorit Schmiel – five friends crawl towards Reinickendorf

    Five young East Berliners cut through the fence in Rosenthal after midnight and crawled across the snowy border strip; guards opened fire without warning, killing 20-year-old seamstress Dorit Schmiel and wounding a 16-year-old.

    Over the wall · Killed · Pankow / Reinickendorf