Lilienthal-Museum in Derwitz

Human flight

Otto Lilienthal, born on May 23, 1848, was the first human to fly with wings he constructed himself. As a boy, he had already made several attempts to fly with his brother Gustav. After studying engineering, he founded a machinery factory in Berlin. The first flight attempt took place in Berlin-Lichterfelde. The conditions were better in Derwitz and Otto Lilienthal was the first human to fly, travelling more than 25 metres through the air in 1891.

Otto Lilienthal: “Almost every Sunday and if my time allowed during the week too, I was at the practice grounds between Werder and Groß Kreutz to practice the glider flight against the wind from the hills there a thousand times over. A technician from my machinery factory and I discussed how one of us would sail down from the hill and then carry the device back up again straight away while the other relaxed and immediately jumped again.” His constant companion was Derwitz miller Hermann Schwach, in whose mill Lilienthal stored his flying machine.

During his flight attempts, Otto protected himself with a red sweater and knee-length padded trousers. He also wore high shoes with thick rubber soles and his ankles were bandaged. The flight hill and comical flyers soon became quite the attraction in Berlin. “The turned up on Sundays with their kith and kin and set up camp at the foot of the hill. The flying man was greeted with ‘hallo’ as soon as he turned up and met with applause after his flight.

Pioneers of flight from all over the world turned up. Later, Lilienthal flew from the high Gollenberg hill in Stölln, covering a distance of more than 250 metres. On August 9, 1896, Lilienthal crashed in Stölln and died.

Opening hours: by arrangement.