Which East German border guard famously jumped over the Berlin Wall into West Berlin?

Conrad Schumann was the East German border guard who famously jumped over the Berlin Wall into West Berlin.

On 15 August 1961, Schumann was stationed at the newly sealed border near Bernauer Straße. The barrier there was still made of coils of barbed wire. As people gathered on the western side, he suddenly dropped his submachine gun, ran toward the barrier, and leapt across it.

A West Berlin photographer captured the moment, creating one of the most recognizable images of the Cold War. The photograph shows Schumann airborne above the wire and became a visual symbol of the desire to escape East Germany.

Schumann later lived in Bavaria and worked as a vehicle mechanic. His story is sometimes confused with civilian escape attempts, but he was specifically an East German border policeman who defected at the Wall’s earliest stage.