Peter Leibing

Peter Leibing is a German photographer known for his 1961 photographs of escaping East German border guard, Conrad Schumann jumping a barbed wire fence during construction of the Berlin Wall.

On 15 August 1961 Leibing, working for the Hamburg picture agency Contiepress, had been tipped by police that an East German border guard might escape the Berlin Wall, then in its third day of construction. [cite book | last =Perkes | first =Dan | coauthors = Hal Buell, Norm Goldstein | title =Moments in Time: 50 Years of Associated Press News Photos | publisher =The Associated Press | year =1984 | pages =56 | ISBN 0-917360-07-9 ] At that stage of construction, the Berlin Wall was only a low barbed-wire fence. As people on the Western side shouted "Komm rüber!" ("come over"), Leibing captured a photograph of Schumann jumping a barbed wire fence and making his escape. The photo became a well-known image of the Cold War and won the Overseas Press Club Best Photograph award for 1961. [cite web | title =OPC Awards, 1961 Award Winners | publisher =Overseas Press Club | year =1961 | url =http://www.opcofamerica.org/opc_awards/archive/awards_1961.php | accessdate = 2007-01-12]

References

External links

* [http://www.videofact.com/cold_war/berlin/berlin43e_2.htm Photo of Leibing and his famous photo]