Later attempts to start a non-criminal life failed, being accused of theft when he was innocent, lacking a drivers' licence to carry out his job and finding his wages confiscated to pay for his illegitimate children.
[7] In 1965, Berger escaped from the local police station in Schrobenhausen after having been arrested for a fight by jumping out of a window on the first floor, stealing a bicycle and cycling to Ludwigsmoos, where friends cut off his handcuffs.
[7] After each escape, Berger was caught eventually and his court cases, held in Augsburg, became pilgrimages for the local population from the Donaumoos.
He even once toyed with the idea of passing a gun to the Red Army Faction terrorists Knut Folkerts and Bernd Rößner after seeing them in the courtyard of the Straubing jail.
He eventually handed in his guns to the Bavarian justice department in the hope of being allowed to receive medical treatment outside of jail; he was refused.
His escape lasted for only eleven days; he was arrested without resisting on a bridge over the Danube in Ingolstadt, afraid the police would shoot him otherwise.
He was released from prison in 1985 because of his illness, but Berger and accomplices Otto Hinterlechner were the main suspects in a bank robbery in March 1986.
[1] While Berger could not be convicted of this bank robbery, the fact that shots were fired at the police resulted in him being charged with attempt of murder.
A psychological assessment of Berger at the time found that he suffered from excessive masculinity, a lack of scruple when it came to aggression and a complete absence of fear for retribution by others.
Hubert Dietl, a high-ranking official in the Bavarian justice department, once declared that Berger should die in jail since he was a danger to the public.
The appropriateness of Berger's 36 years in jail was questioned in his obituary by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, as he never killed anybody and even murderers in Germany tend to be released after much shorter sentences.
[6] 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.