Theo Berger

Theo Maximilian Berger (25 January 1941 – 20 November 2003) was a notorious Bavarian criminal, best known for his numerous escapes from prison. Despite escaping four times, Berger spent 39 years in jail and eventually committed suicide there. Berger had been sentenced to a collective 137 years in jail. and later wrote his memoirs, which were smuggled out of Straubing prison.

In his time, Berger received a number of nicknames, among them Al Capone vom Donaumoos, König der Ausbrecher (English:King of the jail breakers) or Der schöne Theo (English:The beautiful Theo).

Biography Berger was born in 1941 in Ludwigsmoos, a small village near Schrobenhausen in what is now the district of Neuburg-Schrobenhausen. He was the son of a farmer.

In 1968, Berger was sentenced to 15 years in prison for bank robbery, which he was to spend in the high-security jail at Straubing. He quickly came to realise that Straubing was not as secure as its reputation, as he himself was able to carry a hacksaw in his suitcase on arrival. He used this hacksaw for his first escape, when on transfer in Munich.

Berger's daughter Michaela, who regularly visited him throughout his time in jail, made numerous attempts to have her father released and to have him live with her and her children. Shortly before his suicide, plans were underway to permit Berger to spend one day a week at his daughter's house. The 59-minute documentary features Theo Berger as one of the coauthors and actors. The film was seen as too controversial for Bavarian public television, but it was shown in cinemas in Augsburg and the Donaumoos. For broadcast in West German Television (WDR) the film needed to be subtitled in High German. In 2018 the film was digitally remastered and successfully re-released. in 1989, his autobiography Ausbruch (English: Escape) was published and 10,000 copies were sold. In 2006, Berger became the subject of a theatre play in Neuburg an der Donau titled Bruchstücke. It became the most successful play in the history of theatre in Neuburg.