mauerspringer (11. 767)

East German Bereitschaftsvolkspolizei (People’s Police Alert Units, a paramilitary regimen of the German Democratic Republic for riot control and counterinsurgency) non-commissioned officer Konrad Schumann was given the duty assignment on this day in 1961 to “take control and protect the border from enemies of socialism” on the third day of construction of what would become the Berlin Wall, which at the time consisted of a single coil of concertina wire. Standing at his post on the corner of Bernauer and Ruppiner Straße, Schumann was berated relentlessly by West Berliners, the nineteen year old came to the realisation that he would spend the rest of life as a prison guard and a prisoner himself—solidified by witnessing a young woman hand a bouquet of flowers over the barrier to her mother, apologising for not being able to visit in person. A crowd of protesters had massed by noon and began to rush Schumann’s position, but reinforcements arrived before he had to act, armed but resolved not to open fire on the crowd. Protests continued as construction materials arrived and waiting for the right moment, Schumann stamped on a section of wire and leapt into West Berlin. The action was photographer Peter Leibing and the visual documentation is included in the opening montage of the 1982 Disney movie Night Crossing.