Peter Leibing
Encyclopedia
Peter Leibing was 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
.
Leibing was born in Hamburg
in 1941. 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. 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.
Leibing continued to work as a photographer until retirement, both as a police photographer and reporter for the Hamburger Echo, the Hamburger Morgenpost
, and Hamburger Abendblatt
.
Leibing died on November 2, 2008. His widow, Ruth Leibing, holds the rights to his famous photograph of the escaping East German border guard and can be contacted through her attorney's office, Rechtsanwaltskanzlei Mielke, Hamburg.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
photographer known for his 1961 photographs of escaping East German border guard, Conrad Schumann
Conrad Schumann
Hans Conrad Schumann was an East German soldier who famously defected to West Germany during the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961.-Early life:...
jumping a barbed wire
Barbed wire
Barbed wire, also known as barb wire , is a type of fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strand. It is used to construct inexpensive fences and is used atop walls surrounding secured property...
fence during construction of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
.
Leibing was born in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
in 1941. 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
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
, then in its third day of construction. 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
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
and won the Overseas Press Club
Overseas Press Club
The Overseas Press Club of America was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member...
Best Photograph award for 1961.
Leibing continued to work as a photographer until retirement, both as a police photographer and reporter for the Hamburger Echo, the Hamburger Morgenpost
Hamburger Morgenpost
Hamburger Morgenpost is a daily German newspaper, published in Hamburg in tabloid format.The Hamburger Morgenpost is the second largest newspaper in Hamburg.- History :...
, and Hamburger Abendblatt
Hamburger Abendblatt
The Hamburger Abendblatt is a daily newspaper in Hamburg, Germany, published by Axel Springer AG. The paper used to appear Monday through Saturday only, but since 29 October 2006 it has also published a Sunday edition to compete with the Hamburger Morgenpost's introduction of a Sunday edition...
.
Leibing died on November 2, 2008. His widow, Ruth Leibing, holds the rights to his famous photograph of the escaping East German border guard and can be contacted through her attorney's office, Rechtsanwaltskanzlei Mielke, Hamburg.