Authentic Documents from the Cold War

There were fewer iconic images of the Cold War division of the world than this photograph, captured on 15 August 1961.

The East German soldier caught in the split second snapshot was Hans Conrad Schumann, who had been posted to the barbed wire border separating East from West Berlin.

Schumann was one of many East German border guards who escaped across to the West.

Read the story of this fascinating photograph here.

Examine more authentic historical sources to gain a clearer understanding of the very tense four decades in the twentieth century that made up the Cold War.