Andreas Schumann

Andreas Schumann was born in Zwickau on October 27, 1953, and experienced a relaxed childhood. After completing his graduation, he became the deputy director of the Water-Management Directorate in Magdeburg in 1984. In this position, he soon realized that the career possibilities were rather limited in the GDR. On top of that, he was hindered in achieving the goals personally dear to him. Therefore he decided to leave his family for the time being and flee to the West. To this end, he moved his field of activity to a district which had a long border with Bavaria. Acting on a pretext, on November 3, 1988, he went on a trip to a border river, ostensibly to obtain water samples. In fact, however, his plan was to cross the border on that day with an illegally acquired pass in his pocket. He waited for a suitable moment and then took the opportunity and made a getaway across the border river. He managed to shake off the border guards that had originally accompanied him and on the Bavarian side of the border he knocked on the door of the first farm he encountered. A very surprised farmer’s family was the first one to provide a friendly reception and assistance to him. He was subsequently forwarded to the U.S. occupation authorities and then passed through the admission procedure of the FRG. With the help of his family members, friends, and acquaintances, as well as a lot of hard work, he managed to start from scratch and after the fall of the Wall on November 9, 1989, he was finally able to reunite with his wife and daughter again.

• More info