Conrad Schumann
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Hans Conrad Schumann (28 March, 1942 – June 20, 1998) in Oberemmendorf near Kipfenberg) was one of the most famous escapees from East Germany.
Born in Leutewitz near Riesa, Schumann served as a soldier in the Nationale Volksarmee. 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 15 August 1961 he found himself, aged 19, guarding the Berlin Wall, then in its third day of construction, at the corner of Ruppinerstraße and Bernauerstraße. At that stage, the Wall was no more than a low barbed-wire fence. Seizing his opportunity, Schumann jumped over the barbed wire, and was then driven away at high speed in a West Berlin police car. His escape was captured on film by photographer Peter Leibing, and the image (shown here) became one of the most famous of the Cold War.
He was later permitted to travel from West Berlin to the main territory of West Germany, where he settled in Bavaria. He met his wife Kunigunde in the town of Günzburg.
After the Berlin Wall opened he said, "Only since 9 November 1989 [the date of its opening] have I felt truly free". Even so, he continued to feel more at home in Bavaria than in his birthplace, citing old frictions with his former colleagues, and he even hesitated about visiting his parents and brothers and sisters in Saxony. On 20 June 1998, suffering from depression, he hanged himself near the town of Kipfenberg in Oberbayern.de:Conrad Schumann es:Conrad Schumann no:Conrad Schumann pt:Conrad Schumann fi:Conrad Schumann
