Konrad Schumann (also referred to as Conrad Schumann in English speaking countries) leapt to freedom in the blink of an eye. It happened on 15 August 1961, the third day of construction of the Berlin Wall. Ordered to guard the beginnings of this newly created barrier, he made a split-second decision and jumped into West Berlin.
Konrad Schumann’s Early Years
He was born in 1942 and grew up in a small town between Dresden, and Leipzig, both located in East Germany. Following high school, he apprenticed as a shepherd. Because the military offered better pay and greater promotional opportunities, Schumann enlisted in the East German border police (Grenzpolizei) soon after his 18th birthday. Following a brief training period, he was posted to a non-commissioned officers’ college in Potsdam. In early August 1961, he volunteered for service in East Berlin, the capital of East Germany. That’s how he came to be in East Berlin on the fateful day in August 1961.
Berlin Crisis
The East German state had been in crisis mode since November 1958. At that time, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had given the three western occupying powers an ultimatum. He had demanded that they transform West Berlin into a demilitarized free city within six months or the Soviets would sign a peace treaty with East Germany and allow the East Germans to control the access routes between West Germany and West Berlin. In spring of 1961, Khrushchev repeated his demands. He believed the free city concept to be a solution to East Germany’s people drain. Between 1950 and 1960, 2.4 million East Germans had fled to the west, pushing the East German economy to the brink of collapse. If West Berlin was a neutral city, however, East Germans might not be so eager to migrate into the west.
Konrad Schumann’s Decision to Jump
At 11 p.m. on August 12, a Saturday, Schumann’s unit was ordered to help seal the border between East and West Berlin at Bernauer Strasse. There were no incidents the first night, but by morning, 1,000 West Berliners had gathered in protest. The demonstrations continued for the next couple of days. The crowd grew more and more menacing. By Tuesday, August 15, they yelled profanities. Schumann was nervous and chain-smoked one cigarette after the other. This was not the kind of job he had bargained for. When he casually pressed down a section of barbed wire with his foot, West Berlin bystanders shouted, “Komm rüber, komm rüber” (come across, come across). When one young man came too close to the border, Konrad Schumann bellowed “Get back at once”, then whispered “I’m going to jump!” The young man alerted the West Berlin police, who soon arrived in a van.
Konrad Schumann’s Leap to Freedom
All of a sudden, Sergeant Schumann threw his machine gun over his shoulder and jumped across the knee-high concertina wire. The act took no more than a couple of minutes, and Konrad Schumann stood on West Berlin soil. He was immediately ushered into the police van and driven off. Eventually, he was flown to West Germany, where he settled in Bavaria. He was free. He felt relief. But fear and grief lurked not far behind. What if the East German Stasi, the secret police, located him? His desertion was punishable with death in East Germany. Would he ever see his family and old friends again?
Konrad Schumann leaps to freedom across the Berlin Wall on 15 August. 1961. Photo: courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, <https:/creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0> walled-in-berlin.com
Life goes on in West Germany
In West Germany, Konrad Schumann picked up the pieces. At first, he worked as a caregiver, then as a worker at a winery, and later at Audi car factory. He married a local girl and seemed content until … the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. He was elated. Now, he could visit his family and friends again. But it turned out to be more difficult than that. Some members of his family and former friends no longer accepted him in their circle. In their minds, he had lost the right to belong with his desertion. As time went on, Schumann got more and more depressed, and nine years later, in 1998, he took his life. The price he paid for freedom had been too high.
Schumann was only three years my senior. We both were in Berlin when the Berlin Wall went up: he on the East side; I on the West side. I saw his escape on film. A few years later, I too, left Berlin for greater freedom, but under very different circumstances. I left for adventure and independence. Would I have had the courage to do what he did?
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic or current events, people, places or food.
Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
