Break into the School at Night and Steal the Computers

The break-in at the Walter-Gropius-Schule turns a scheme discussed among friends into a consequential theft: Lukas, Sanchez, and Julius enter the school after dark and remove computers and monitors worth several thousand euros. The operation depends on Sanchez’s access to school keys, but unfolds through improvisation, mistakes, and growing exposure. Its apparent success is undercut by the practical problem of transporting the goods and by the clues that later draw police and a computer-shop owner toward the thieves.

Planning and Preparation

The plan takes shape around tools and access rather than a carefully worked-out route. Julius first produces a lock pick, boasting that it can open doors, cars, and cellars. Sanchez dismisses it and throws down a large key ring. Julius recognizes that the keys belong to the school; Sanchez’s knowing wink confirms that the group has a more direct way in. The exchange turns the idea of breaking in from a boast into an actionable plan.

The timing offers concealment but also makes the three conspicuous. It is Saturday in the middle of the night, and the school stands in a residential area where people are asleep; the boys know that those who usually gather around the neighborhood are elsewhere, closer to subway stations and other lively places. Sanchez has kicked out the lamp by the school gate, leaving them in darkness, but the quiet surroundings do not make them feel safe. They recognize that anyone out at that hour without an obvious reason could attract attention.

Julius adds a dangerous complication by revealing a silver blank-firing gun tucked into his waistband. Lukas had thought Julius was joking when he mentioned it before. Instead of making the plan safer, the weapon raises the stakes: if they are caught, the burglary could look like an armed break-in. The gun is displayed with pride, while Lukas immediately sees it as another reason the group could face serious consequences.

Entry into the School

Sanchez leads the way to the gate and tries keys from his ring. The first does not fit, nor do the next two. On the fourth attempt, the key catches; after a moment of uncertainty and more movement at the lock, Sanchez announces that he has found the right one and opens the gate. The small success gets them inside the grounds, but does not settle Lukas’s anxiety.

They stop at a side entrance near the seventh-year classrooms. Lukas worries that someone may be on night watch, that cleaners may still be working, or that motion sensors or cameras could alert the police. He also realizes that this entrance brings them past the caretaker’s room and the cleaning-supply rooms, places where a person inside might notice them. Sanchez unlocks the door before Lukas can suggest another route. The three enter a dark school, where their footsteps echo along the linoleum and the corridor is otherwise silent.

Their equipment is as improvised as their route. Julius asks Lukas to turn on a light, but the flashlight taken from Lukas’s father will not work; its battery seems dead. They resort to the light on Julius’s phone. At the basement storage room, Sanchez searches his key ring without success. He says he has tried them all and throws the ring down in frustration. Lukas insists that they try again, and this time a key fits. The lock opens with only half a turn, giving the group access to the room without forcing the door.

The Computers and the Escape Problem

At first, the storage room seems to hold no target. Lukas knows the school is receiving new computers and insists they must be somewhere inside, while Julius searches impatiently. Sanchez finally points upward: unopened boxes of computers and monitors sit on the shelves, roughly forty in all. The discovery makes the plan feel suddenly real. Lukas thinks about how quickly the goods might bring more money than ordinary work, a thought that exposes the lure of the theft without resolving what it will cost them.

A small step stool lets Lukas reach the boxes. He passes computers and screens down one by one while Sanchez and Julius take them and set them on the floor. The monitors are light; the computers are small but heavy. Lukas continues in a rush until Sanchez tells him to stop. The group argues over how many to take: Julius wants at least ten, while Sanchez warns that too many would be difficult to carry without attracting notice. They count eight computers and nine monitors, then agree to see whether that load can be managed.

Lukas proposes moving the boxes through a window in a group-work room above the basement, facing a small garden behind the school. But moving them through the building and out of a window does not solve the next obstacle. With the computers and monitors behind the school, the three face a fence about two and a half metres high. Carrying everything across it intact is not straightforward. Lukas suggests using a human ladder, arguing that their alternatives are to wait until daylight or carry the goods across the grounds to the main entrance. By this point, the plan is no longer simply about getting into the school; each stage of removing the stolen property creates a new chance of being seen.

The group also leaves an unnecessary trace inside. Julius has written a large tag on the wall near the storage room, signing it with his writer name. Lukas worries that the name may already be known to police and that the conspicuous graffiti could connect them to the break-in. The mark sits beside the practical evidence they are trying to carry away: a boastful gesture that makes secrecy harder just as the escape becomes more complicated.

Discovery and Exposure

The theft is later reported to students by police officers accompanied by Herr Schiezeth. The officers say they believe the break-in happened on Saturday night and that computers and monitors worth several thousand euros were taken. Residents reportedly saw three male figures in black hooded jackets transporting the goods in a shopping cart toward U-Bahnhof Zwickauer Damm. This account confirms that the computers did leave the school, although the available account does not specify how the group overcame the high fence. Police also mention that gunshots were heard near the station that same evening, while making clear that they do not yet know whether the shots were connected to the burglary or whether the thieves were armed.

The report makes the boys’ improvised choices legible as evidence: the number of participants, their clothing, the shopping cart, and the route toward the subway all become details investigators can pursue. In class, Lukas notices Herr Schiezeth staring at him and looks down. As the officers invite anyone with information to come forward, he considers admitting what happened, reasoning that the police already seem to know a great deal and that confessing might bring a lighter punishment. The theft has shifted from a private secret to a risk he must actively manage.

Several days later, the group’s attempted sale brings that risk into sharper focus. Three students arrive at a shop trying to sell brand-new computers, just after a large number of computers have been stolen from a school. The shopkeeper points out the coincidence and challenges their explanation. The goods that seemed easy to turn into money are difficult to disguise; their newness and the timing make the proposed sale itself incriminating.

Significance

The burglary is built from a chain of practical opportunities and failures. A key ring replaces the lock pick, a darkened gate offers cover, a dead flashlight forces reliance on a phone, and a lucky second try opens the storage room. Yet access is only the beginning: the quantity of equipment, the high fence, Julius’s weapon, his wall tag, the shopping cart, and the attempted sale each complicate the fantasy of a clean, quick theft.

The contrast between the boys’ confidence and their limited control gives the event its shape. They imagine that finding the computers will make the plan succeed; instead, each success exposes another problem, while the police report and the shopkeeper’s suspicion make the consequences increasingly concrete. The break-in therefore marks more than the removal of school property: it is the point at which a tempting idea becomes a public crime, leaving both material evidence and an unresolved threat of discovery.