The Berlin International Human Rights Congress (BIHRC)

"Human Rights and Democracy in a Globalized World - Moving Towards an International Consensus"

(Berlin; October 1st - 4th, 2010)

Human Rights Introduction

August 22, 1961

The first victim of the Wall dies

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59-year-old Ida Siekmann attempts to cross the wall just 9 days after its edification. She throws a mattress onto the pavement on the Western side of the wall from the third floor of her building and jumps. Sadly she dies in her fall. Today a plaque serves as a reminder of the Wall’s first victim.