Victims of the Wall

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Ingolf Diederichs

1964–1989

Ingolf Diederichs, a 24-year-old former student from Wismar, jumped from a moving S-Bahn train near the Bornholmer Strasse border crossing on 13 January 1989 while trying to escape to West Berlin. He was caught by the train as he fell and died instantly.

Black-and-white photograph of a border checkpoint: a road with barriers, stop signs and a row of curved street lamps leads towards low buildings and tall poplars; two people stand beside a kiosk on the right.
The Bornholmer Straße border crossing at the Böse Bridge on 2 June 1985. Ingolf Diederichs died on 13 January 1989 after jumping from a moving train very close to this crossing. Photo: Gerd Danigel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Ingolf Diederichs was born in Wismar on 13 April 1964. After leaving school he trained as a repair mechanic, and in September 1986 he began studying vocational education, specialising in mechanical engineering, at the Technical University of Dresden.

A fellow student remembered him as ambitious, technically gifted and determined to finish his degree: a good engineer, though teaching did not suit his strengths. Around the time his classmates were celebrating the halfway point of their course, he was removed from the university. According to the same student, he then sought to study engineering but was not given permission.

The S-Bahn line from Pankow to Schönhauser Allee came within little more than twenty metres of West Berlin near Bornholmer Strasse, where the Wall stood 5.4 metres high and drivers were expected to take trains through without delay. Early in the evening of 13 January 1989 he boarded a train on that line at Pankow, carrying a folding wooden ladder he had made from the slats of a child's cot. At about 6:30 p.m., very close to the Bornholmer Strasse crossing, he jumped from the moving train. As he fell he was caught by the train and dragged along, and he died instantly from head injuries.

An S-Bahn driver saw his body between the mainline and S-Bahn tracks near the Böse Bridge. The Stasi and border troops closed the line between Pankow and Schönhauser Allee until after midnight to recover him and secure evidence. What led him to take such a risk is not known. The Stasi presented his escape attempt as nothing more than an accident, and his relatives were to be told only that he had died after falling from a moving train.

In late August 1994 the Berlin public prosecutor's office opened a preliminary investigation to establish whether anyone else was responsible for his death. It was closed the following month, as there was no evidence of outside involvement.

Colour photograph of a single railway track curving between a grassy strip and a long white concrete wall towards a steel arch bridge; apartment buildings stand behind the wall on the right.
The railway line beside the Berlin Wall, with the Böse Bridge and Bornholmer Straße station, photographed on 8 June 1988. Photo: Roehrensee, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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Sources

This profile is a summary written for this site. Every fact in it is taken from source 1, which also gives the full account with archival references.

  1. Martin Ahrends/Udo Baron, “Ingolf Diederichs”, biography in Chronik der Mauer, Federal Agency for Civic Education, Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam and Deutschlandradio. Accessed 23 September 2026. Read online. Basis for every fact in this profile, including the dates and place of death.
  2. German version of the same biography. Accessed 23 September 2026. Read online.
  3. Hans-Hermann Hertle and Maria Nooke (eds.), The Victims at the Berlin Wall, 1961–1989: A Biographical Handbook. Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam and Berlin Wall Foundation, Berlin 2011. The printed handbook from which the online biography is taken.
  4. Hans-Hermann Hertle and Maria Nooke, “140 Victims at the Berlin Wall, 1961–1989” (list), Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam and Berlin Wall Foundation, August 2017. PDF. Used to cross-check names and dates.
  5. Hans-Hermann Hertle and Maria Nooke, “The Victims at the Berlin Wall, 1961–1989: Findings of a Research Project”, August 2017. PDF. Source of the classification into escapees, people with no intent to escape, and border soldiers.

Further reading

Image credits

  • The Bornholmer Straße border crossing at the Böse Bridge on 2 June 1985. Ingolf Diederichs died on 13 January 1989 after jumping from a moving train very close to this crossing.. Gerd Danigel, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
  • The railway line beside the Berlin Wall, with the Böse Bridge and Bornholmer Straße station, photographed on 8 June 1988.. Roehrensee, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.

Cite this page

“Ingolf Diederichs”, Victims of the Berlin Wall, Berlin Experiences. https://victimsofthewall.com/victims/diederichs-ingolf/

Map

The pin position is based on the place of death described in source 1. Base map © OpenStreetMap contributors; course of the Wall in 1989 from Geoportal Berlin (dl-de/zero-2.0). Accessed 23 September 2026.