15 August 1961 · Guards who fled · Bernauer Straße

Conrad Schumann's leap to freedom

Two days after the border was sealed, 19-year-old border policeman Conrad Schumann jumped over the barbed-wire barrier at Bernauer Straße into West Berlin, dropping his submachine gun as he went.

A metal sculpture of a leaping soldier on a grassy strip beside a street — Sculpture commemorating Conrad Schumann's leap, on the former border strip at Bernauer Straße near Ruppiner Straße (photographed 2009) Photo: Jotquadrat. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

On 15 August 1961, two days after the sealing of the sector border, the 19-year-old Conrad Schumann was on duty as an East German Bereitschaftspolizist (police reserve) at the corner of Bernauer Straße and Ruppiner Straße. At this spot the border was still marked only by a barbed-wire entanglement.

At around 4 p.m. he jumped over the wire into West Berlin, dropping his weapon, a Russian-model submachine gun. West Berlin police had parked a vehicle a few metres from the wire with its rear door open; Schumann ran to it and was driven away at speed.

Historical photograph of a corner apartment building and a row of houses on Bernauer Straße with bricked-up windows — The corner of Bernauer Straße and Ruppiner Straße in August 1963, two years after Conrad Schumann jumped the wire here; the East Berlin border houses have bricked-up windows Photo: Roger W from Sarasota, Florida, U.S.A.. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

The young photographer Peter Leibing captured the moment of the jump. The picture went around the world; the Deutsches Historisches Museum calls it an icon of the 20th century. The Chronik der Mauer describes Schumann as the first border policeman to flee at that spot.

Schumann, a trained shepherd from Zschochau in Saxony, later said that seeing a little girl prevented by border guards from returning to her parents in the West had been decisive for his escape. He settled in Bavaria after his escape. He and Leibing met again in 1986 and became friends. Schumann took his own life on 20 June 1998.

Where the sources differ

Klaus Lehnartz was also photographing at the spot and later sold the picture under his own name (Berliner Zeitung, below). Coordinates are an estimate of the street corner. Sources describe the getaway vehicle differently: the Stiftung Berliner Mauer's digital guide says the West Berlin police positioned a car a few metres from the wire with its rear door open and that he was driven off in a West Berlin police car; the Chronik der Mauer photo caption says he ran to a West Berlin police patrol car ('Streifenwagen') and that two officers recovered his weapon. The East Berlin police journal of 15 August 1961 first reported (16.10) that 'VP-Owm. Sch.' had been dragged through the wire by force at the Ruppiner Straße control point and taken to West Berlin in a car, then corrected this (16.40): at 15.40 the Oberwachtmeister, a group leader in the Niederschönhausen unit, had leaned against a house wall in Ruppiner Straße looking depressed, tried to climb the wire himself, got caught in it and was freed by three West Berlin policemen from a radio car, who drove him off in it together with his submachine gun. The name is abbreviated there, but place and date match. The journal's time (15.40) is earlier than the 'about 4 p.m.' of the other sources, and its account of him getting caught in the wire is the East Berlin police's version. Round 10: a Berliner Zeitung feature on the photograph (Peter Leibing's account) dates the jump 'gegen 16 Uhr', says Leibing rode with Schumann in the waiting West Berlin police car, and says Klaus Lehnartz also sold the picture under his own name and has been barred from doing so by injunction since 1981, after Leibing won the rights in court. It calls Schumann an NVA soldier carrying a Kalashnikov and dates his death to 20 July 1998; the record follows the other sources (Bereitschaftspolizist, a Russian-model submachine gun, 20 June 1998). Round 11: the West Berlin police note of 16 Aug 1961 on his questioning at the Wedding police station (Chronik der Mauer 180618) gives 'gegen 15.40 Uhr', the same time as the East Berlin police journal, and says he carried an 'MP 41 (russisches Modell)'. Reading that as the Soviet PPSh-41 would be an inference, so the record no longer names the model. The Tagesspiegel (ddp, 19 Jun 2008) gives his death as 20 June 1998 in Oberemmendorf; the Hamburger Abendblatt (2011) says June 1998 and that he and Leibing became friends after meeting again in 1986.

Sources

Whose account is this? Drawn from a GDR record, a Western official record, press reports and historical research.

Facts checked against the sources: October 2026

Spotted an error, or know more about this story? Email us a correction or addition

Cite this page

Berlin Experiences, “Conrad Schumann's leap to freedom”, Berlin Wall Escapes, 2026, https://berlinwallescapes.com/escapes/conrad-schumann-leap-1961/ (accessed [date]).

Where: Corner of Bernauer Straße / Ruppiner Straße, Mitte (map position approximate)
Map position: On the street named in the sources; the exact spot is not known
52.539° N, 13.399° E
Border section: Inner-city border
Outcome: Reached the West
Reached the West: 1
Sourcing: Confirmed by several independent sources
Whose account: A GDR record, a Western official record, press reports and historical research
People: Conrad Schumann, Peter Leibing
Themes: Barbed wire and fences, Filmed, photographed and watched

Key facts

Schumann was 19 years old and came from Zschochau in Saxony.
The jump took place at about 4 p.m. on 15 August 1961.
He dropped his submachine gun during the jump; the West Berlin police note calls it an 'MP 41 (russisches Modell)'.
Photographer Peter Leibing's picture of the jump became an icon of the 20th century.
Schumann died on 20 June 1998.

Conrad Schumann's leap to freedom

Sources

GDR records

Western official records

Press

Historians and memorials

Cite this page

The boot left in the barbed wire

Two policemen vanish from the Kobold works

Border policeman Lutz M. jumps from Bernauer Straße 2

Dog handler Werner K. slips away over the cemetery wall

Sources

GDR records

Western official records

Press

Historians and memorials

Cite this page

Related escapes

The boot left in the barbed wire

Two policemen vanish from the Kobold works

Border policeman Lutz M. jumps from Bernauer Straße 2

Dog handler Werner K. slips away over the cemetery wall