Russian Soldier Junping over Berlin wall picture.

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sylvieK4
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#16

Post by sylvieK4 » 22 Jul 2003, 21:51

He committed suicide in 1998,at the age of 56.
What a tragic end. :(

Kaan Caglar
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#17

Post by Kaan Caglar » 22 Jul 2003, 23:45

Moulded wrote: The 19 year old Conrad Schumann was debriefed,and ended up as a winery worker in Bavaria.He committed suicide in 1998,at the age of 56.

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http://www.ludgerusschule.de/rap2000/im ... hum_c1.jpg
Do you know why did he commit suicide???


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Whisper
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#18

Post by Whisper » 23 Jul 2003, 07:33

All thats said is "out of personal reasons", whatever that means, but in my eyes its related to the fall of the Berlin wall. It lasted 28 years until he saw his family again, and (thats said in an article i read) many of his former comrades avoided him. Well, i guess that nobody really knows why he commited suicide.

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John W
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#19

Post by John W » 27 Jul 2003, 20:40

Whisper wrote:Well, i guess that nobody really knows why he commited suicide.
I wonder if there were others like him...

John

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Major Linden
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#20

Post by Major Linden » 28 Jul 2003, 00:58

Whisper wrote:It lasted 28 years until he saw his family again...
I can`t begin to imagine what that must have been like...

Far be it from me to judge, but how could he bring himself to leave his loved ones behind? Leads me to wonder if the pain of seeing them again was just too great...

Regards,

The Major :)

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Whisper
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#21

Post by Whisper » 28 Jul 2003, 08:24

Major Linden wrote:
Whisper wrote:It lasted 28 years until he saw his family again...
I can`t begin to imagine what that must have been like...

Far be it from me to judge, but how could he bring himself to leave his loved ones behind? Leads me to wonder if the pain of seeing them again was just too great...

Regards,

The Major :)
I wonder if he ever did regret his decision! Maybe he felt guilty because he left his family and friends! I couldnt do that!
I dont know, but i dont think he planned that, it must have been a decision he made in a second, and afterwards he couldnt just go back and say "oops, sorry, im back again!".

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Gott
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#22

Post by Gott » 28 Jul 2003, 09:28

Major Linden wrote:
Whisper wrote:It lasted 28 years until he saw his family again...
I can`t begin to imagine what that must have been like...

Far be it from me to judge, but how could he bring himself to leave his loved ones behind? Leads me to wonder if the pain of seeing them again was just too great...

Regards,

The Major :)
When the Russians invaded East Prussia, our family fled. Though some members of my family managed to settle in the West, I also have a lot of relatives that settled down in areas that would soon become the DDR. My grandfather, who was discharged from Bavaria, could only met up two of my uncles where they left the Soviet sector. My grandafather never got a chance to see my relatives in the East, as he died three years before the Berlin Wall fell.

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Major Linden
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#23

Post by Major Linden » 28 Jul 2003, 23:17

Gott wrote:When the Russians invaded East Prussia, our family fled. Though some members of my family managed to settle in the West, I also have a lot of relatives that settled down in areas that would soon become the DDR. My grandfather, who was discharged from Bavaria, could only met up two of my uncles where they left the Soviet sector. My grandafather never got a chance to see my relatives in the East, as he died three years before the Berlin Wall fell.
Thanks for the post Gott...

It does my heart good to see the human side of so great a tragedy.

If only your grandfather could have known...

Regards,

The Major :)

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Major Linden
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#24

Post by Major Linden » 28 Jul 2003, 23:26

Whisper wrote:I wonder if he ever did regret his decision! Maybe he felt guilty because he left his family and friends! I couldnt do that! I dont know, but i dont think he planned that, it must have been a decision he made in a second, and afterwards he couldnt just go back and say "oops, sorry, im back again!".
Nor could I...

As greatly as I value personal freedom; life just wouldn`t be worth living if I had to leave my loved ones behind.

Having said that, you`re probably right in that it wasn`t premeditated. Nevertheless, what an awful burden to have to carry for the rest of your life! :(

Regards,

The Major :)

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Gott
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#25

Post by Gott » 29 Jul 2003, 13:45

Major Linden wrote:
Gott wrote:When the Russians invaded East Prussia, our family fled. Though some members of my family managed to settle in the West, I also have a lot of relatives that settled down in areas that would soon become the DDR. My grandfather, who was discharged from Bavaria, could only met up two of my uncles where they left the Soviet sector. My grandafather never got a chance to see my relatives in the East, as he died three years before the Berlin Wall fell.
Thanks for the post Gott...

It does my heart good to see the human side of so great a tragedy.

If only your grandfather could have known...

Regards,

The Major :)
Yes, it was indeed a very sad time for our family. Not only was my grandfather not able to see his relatives in the DDR, he also couldn't go back to his birthplace where it is currently the city of Kaliningrad of Russia. He always wished to at least visit the city, but nevertheless he never did.

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John W
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#26

Post by John W » 02 Apr 2006, 23:49

From Wikipedia:
Hans Conrad Schumann (born 28 March 1942 in Leutewitz near Riesa; died 20 June 1998 in Oberemmendorf near Kipfenberg) was the first, and one of the most famous, escapees from East Germany.

Schumann served as a soldier in the Nationale Volksarmee. After three months' training in Dresden, he was posted to a non-commissioned officers' college in Potsdam, after which he volunteered for service in Berlin.

On 15 August 1961 he found himself, aged 19, guarding the Berlin Wall, then in its third day of construction, at the corner of Ruppinerstraße and Bernauerstraße. At that stage, the Wall was no more than a low barbed-wire fence. Seizing his opportunity, Schumann jumped over the barbed wire, and was then driven away at high speed in a West Berlin police car. His escape was captured on film by photographer Peter Leibing, and the image (shown here) became one of the most famous of the Cold War.

He was later permitted to travel from West Berlin to the main territory of West Germany, where he settled in Bavaria. He met his wife Kunigunde in the town of Günzburg.

After the Berlin Wall opened he said, "Only since 9 November 1989 [the date of its opening] have I felt truly free". Even so, he continued to feel more at home in Bavaria than in his birthplace, citing old frictions with his former colleagues, and he even hesitated about visiting his parents and brothers and sisters in Saxony. On 20 June 1998, suffering from depression, he hanged himself near the town of Kipfenberg in Oberbayern.

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