WarMonitor on Nostr: Do you know the story behind this photo? On August 15, 1961, 19-year-old German ...
Do you know the story behind this photo?
On August 15, 1961, 19-year-old German soldier Konrad Schumann was assigned to patrol a section of barbed wire where the Berlin Wall would eventually stand — an initiative by the communist government of East Germany to prevent citizens from fleeing to the capitalist side.
In the middle of the afternoon, after witnessing heartbreaking scenes of families and friends divided by the barbed wire, an older woman appeared with flowers; on the other side, a young woman received them timidly. The older woman then said, “Happy birthday, my daughter, I’m so sorry we can’t be together today.”
“That’s when I couldn’t take it anymore and jumped.”
The moment of the jump was immortalized in photographs aptly named “The Leap to Freedom.”
On August 15, 1961, 19-year-old German soldier Konrad Schumann was assigned to patrol a section of barbed wire where the Berlin Wall would eventually stand — an initiative by the communist government of East Germany to prevent citizens from fleeing to the capitalist side.
In the middle of the afternoon, after witnessing heartbreaking scenes of families and friends divided by the barbed wire, an older woman appeared with flowers; on the other side, a young woman received them timidly. The older woman then said, “Happy birthday, my daughter, I’m so sorry we can’t be together today.”
“That’s when I couldn’t take it anymore and jumped.”
The moment of the jump was immortalized in photographs aptly named “The Leap to Freedom.”