Title: 1989 - Fall of Berlin Wall

 

About: People gathered at the wall that had divided Berlin since 1961 to begin tearing it down after it was announced by the East German Communist Party that citizens could cross the border whenever they pleased.

 

The fall of the Berlin Wall happened nearly as suddenly as its rise. There had been signs that the Communist bloc was weakening, but the East German Communist leaders insisted that East Germany just needed a moderate change rather than a drastic revolution. East German citizens did not agree.

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Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev was attempting to save his country and decided to break off from many of its satellites. As Communism began to falter in Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia in 1988 and 1989, new exodus points were opened to East Germans who wanted to flee to the West. 

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In East Germany, protests against the government were countered by threats of violence from its leader, Erich Honecker. In October 1989, Honecker was forced to resign after losing support from Gorbachev. He was replaced by Egon Krenz who decided that violence was not going to solve the country's problems. Krenz also loosened travel restrictions from East Germany.

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Suddenly, on the evening of November 9, 1989, East German government official Günter Schabowski blundered by stating in an announcement, "Permanent relocations can be done through all border checkpoints between the GDR [East Germany] into the FRG [West Germany] or West Berlin."

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People were in shock, wondering if the borders could really have been opened. East Germans tentatively approached the border and indeed found that the border guards were letting people cross.

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Very quickly, the Berlin Wall was inundated with people from both sides. Some began chipping at the Berlin Wall with hammers and chisels. There was an impromptu and massive celebration along the Berlin Wall, with people hugging, kissing, singing, cheering, and crying.  Almost all at once, people began to cross, while border guards just looked on.

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The opening of the Berlin Wall triggered a series of events that led to an unexpectedly rapid unification of East and West Germany on October 3, 1990.

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Decade: 1980s

Year: 1989

Region: Europe

Country: Germany + USSR

Politics: Revolution
Conflict: Cold War
Society: Culture
Society: Migration
Society: Economic

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Type: Historical Event

Impact: 10

Artist: Dmitry Vishnevsky

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Group: Genesis

Number: 89/100

Price: 1 ETH

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