Border House Bernauerstrabe, Berlin — Visitor Guide & Things to Do Nearby

The Border House on Bernauer Strasse is one of the most haunting sites along the former route of the Berlin Wall. It was here, at the border between the Wedding and Mitte districts, that some of the most dramatic escape attempts took place in the early days of the Wall.

When the Wall went up on August 13, 1961, the buildings on Bernauer Strasse found themselves in an impossible position: their front doors opened into West Berlin, but they technically stood on East Berlin soil. For a few desperate weeks, residents jumped from upper-storey windows into rescue nets held by West Berlin firefighters below.

On August 22, 1961, Ida Siekmann became the first person to die at the Berlin Wall when she jumped from the third floor of Bernauer Strasse 48. She died of her injuries.

By October 1961, East German authorities had bricked up all the windows facing west and forcibly evacuated the residents. The buildings were eventually demolished to create the "death strip," the open ground between the inner and outer walls that made escape nearly impossible.

Today, the site at Bernauer Strasse 10a has been excavated and preserved as an open-air memorial. Foundation walls and archaeological remains are visible, and information panels tell the stories of the people who lived, escaped, and died here.

If you're on a Questo quest through Berlin, the Border House is a stop where the personal cost of the Wall is written into bricks and window frames.