August 15th: A Big Day For Cold War Defectors

If you follow EiH on Twitter (which you should so here’s the link: twitter.com/HistoryOfAll) then you know that August 15th is the date that three Latin American cities were founded in Panama, Paraguay, and Peru. What does that have to do with defection? Nothing, that was just a shameless plug to get more Twitter followers. Anyway, on to the defectors, and I promise an explanation of this opening paragraph by the end of the post.

Conrad Schumann
On this day in 1961, Conrad Schumann became one of the most famous defectors from East Germany. Schumann was a 19 year old soldier on duty guarding the construction of the Berlin Wall, when he decided that the wall was to keep him in, not to keep *them* out. So, being the quick-witted individual that he was, he decided to hop over the low barbed-wire fence to get a taste of freedom, only to be welcomed by a West Berlin police car (he was a foreign invader, after all). Photographer Peter Leiberg caught the event on film, and it quickly became one of the most ubiquitous photos of the Cold War. I know I’ve seen it in at least one textbook.

Sadly, Schumann never could overcome the guilt of abandoning his homeland, admitting that “Only since 9 November 1989 [the date of the fall] have I felt truly free.” Even after the reunification of Germany, Schumann had a tenuous relationship with the family and friends he left behind. In 1998, while suffering from depression, Schumann committed suicide.

James Joseph Dresnok
Not to be outdone, James Joseph Dresnok decided to defect exactly one year later, in 1962. However, Dresnok’s defection is surprising because he defected *from* the United States *to* North Korea. Yes, you read correctly. Dresnok was facing a court martial for leaving base without permission. Faced with the tough choice of a court martial versus a run through a minefield to join the most isolated country on Earth, he chose the latter; and did it in broad daylight. After 4 years of “re-education”, lack of freedom, and general misery, Dresnok realized the errors of his ways and tried to return to the U.S. by going to the Soviet Embassy in Pyongyang, where he was promptly returned to North Korean authorities. With the futility of the situation, Dresnok figured he would never see the U.S. again and decided to assimilate. In the late 1970s, Dresnok would be cast in several North Korean propaganda films as an American villain, which would gain him an amount of celebrity in North Korea. To this day, Dresnok remains in North Korea, and is the last American defector alive in the country.

So there you have it. I started with the story about the Latin American cities because there were 3 of them on this day. Then there were 2 defectors on the same day. 3-2-now we need 1. In the comments, tell me something that happened on this day.

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