During his teenage years, he killed his female cousin, claiming that the gun accidentally went off while he was playing with it, spending some time at a correctional institution as a result.

He fought during the First World War, where he was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class for his excellent marksmanship.

[2] On 27 August 1921, at 6 o'clock in the morning, Schumann was executed in the courtyard of the Plötzensee Prison by Prussian executioner (Scharfrichter) Carl Gröpler, using the axe.

The Berlin lawyer Erich Frey later recalled his brief encounter with the executioner: "At the end of the corridor, I had to give way to a broad-shouldered man.

He had been a horse butcher previously.... each month he collected a small fixed salary, and had in return to be ready with his massive axe and his three skilled assistants at the demand of the State attorney.