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
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.