November 9, 1989 · Europe Theater
November 9, 1989
At a press conference on November 9, 1989, East German Politburo spokesman Günter Schabowski, confused about the timing of new travel regulations, announced that East Germans could cross the border immediately. Crowds gathered at checkpoints; bewildered border guards, receiving no orders to fire, opened the gates. Within hours tens of thousands of East and West Berliners were dancing on the Wall, hacking at it with hammers and pickaxes. The symbol that had divided Europe for 28 years fell not to an army but to a bureaucratic mistake and a crowd that would not go home.
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