62: Leap Into Freedom

 

62 years ago today (August 15, 1961) 19 year old East German Border Guard Konrad Schuman escaped into West Berlin jumping over a barbed wire fence during the construction of the Berlin Wall.

Hans Konrad Schumann (March 28, 1942 – June 20, 1998) Born in Zschochau (now part of Ostrau, Saxony) during World War II, Schumann enlisted in the East German Bereitschaftspolizei (State Police) following his 18th Birthday. After three months' training in Dresden, he was posted to a Non-Commissioned Officers' College in Potsdam, after which he volunteered for service in Berlin.

On August 15, 1961, the 19-year-old Schumann was sent to the corner of Ruppiner Strasse and Bernauer Strasse to guard the Berlin Wall on its third day of construction. At roughly 4:00 PM, Schumann jumped over the barbed wire while dropping his PPSh-41 submachine gun, and was promptly driven away in the van by West Berlin Police.

West German Photographer Peter Leibing photographed Schumann's escape. The photograph, entitled "Leap into Freedom", has since become an iconic image of the Cold War era and featured at the beginning of the 1982 Disney film “Night Crossing.” The scene, including Schumann's preparations, was also filmed on 16-mm film from the same perspective by camera operator Dieter Hoffmann. Schumann went from West Berlin to West Germany, settling in Bavaria.

In 1962, he met and married Kunigunde Gunda in Günzburg. They had a Son the following year. Schumann took up a new job at a winery and eventually at the Audi car assembly factory in Ingolstadt, where he worked for nearly 30 years.

From his jump to Freedom in August 1961 until the Fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 Schumann worried that the East German Stasi would try to assassinate him.

On June 20, 1998, suffering from Depression (from his years of worrying about being assassinated), he committed Suicide.

In May 2011, the photograph of Schumann's "Leap into Freedom" was inducted into the UNESCO Memory of the World Program as part of a collection of documents on the fall of the Berlin Wall.

He was one of the 4 Million East Germans who fled Communism for Freedom from 1945-1989.