7 October 1961 · Window jumps · Bernauer Straße

Klaus Sch. comes through the cemetery and is caught in Bernauer Straße 10

A Swinemünder Straße resident got into the border house at Bernauer Straße 10 through the Elisabeth cemetery, meaning to flee, and was arrested there.

From 18 August 1961 the front doors of the border houses on Bernauer Straße were nailed shut or bricked up, and new entrances were made through the courtyards. Klaus Sch., who lived in Swinemünder Straße, found another way in: through the cemetery of the Elisabeth parish.

He reached the building at Bernauer Straße 10 intending to escape from it to the West.

On 7 October 1961 border guards arrested him inside the house.

Sources

  1. Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer – Bereich B: Die Zerstörung der Stadt (Orientierungsplan und Ereignismarken), marker B 364Stiftung Berliner Mauer
  2. B 364 – Digital Guide, Berlin Wall MemorialStiftung Berliner Mauer
  3. B 364 – Digitaler Tourguide, Gedenkstätte Berliner MauerStiftung Berliner Mauer

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  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. 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.

    Window jumps · Killed · Mitte

  3. 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.

    Window jumps · Killed · Mitte

  4. 19 September 1961

    Heavily pregnant Helga Knittel jumps first

    The Knittel family called the West Berlin fire brigade, then jumped one after another from their second-floor window into its net: first the heavily pregnant mother, then the daughter, then the father.

    Window jumps · Reached the West · Mitte