Leap Into Freedom (1961) – Peter Leibing

Associated Press’ Peter Leibing got insider info that there’s a brewing defection in 1961. East German leader Walter Ulbricht had put the barbed wire to serve as barriers, but one guard named Hans Conrad Schumann was enticed to flee by the West Berlin crowd.

Schumann leaped, and Leibing captured the motion at the right moment. This brave man, known for being the first soldier to run away, made it to the front pages. While he became the symbol of freedom, he couldn’t bear the weight of it, so he took his own life in 1998.