Fall of the Wall, 9 Nov. 1989.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Hard to believe it's been a quarter century. 1989 had already been quite a year, and this was the cherry on top.

 

[MG1962]

Hard to believe it's been a quarter century. 1989 had already been quite a year, and this was the cherry on top.

A couple of weeks ago I was at the Kansas Cosmosphere with my wife and part of our combined family. They have a piece of wall on display, about a 4 x 8. The thought struck me, none of my kids were alive when that all went down.

 

[ddt]

Hard to believe it's been a quarter century. 1989 had already been quite a year, and this was the cherry on top.

You're 90 minutes too early. It was 18:53 local time that Günther Schabowski announced at his press conference the new travel regulations, and that borders would be opened with the West.
Then a journalist asked "Does this apply to all border check points?"
Schabowski: "Yes, all check points with West Germany and West Berlin. "
Another journalist: "And when do these regulations come into force?"
Schabowski leafs through the papers and says "Right away". After some more leafing: "Yes, immediately".

In fact, the regulation was planned to come into force the next day, and border guards had not been informed yet. Fortunately, nothing negative happened.

West Berlin TV and radio carried the news immediately. At 21:20, the first check point in the Wall, Bornholmerstraße, was opened.

 

[Pianoro]

Another journalist: "And when do these regulations come into force?"Schabowski leafs through the papers and says "Right away". After some more leafing: "Yes, immediately".

In fact, the regulation was planned to come into force the next day, and border guards had not been informed yet. Fortunately, nothing negative happened.

Schabowski had been late to a meeting of the Central Committee this afternoon and missed the part where it was discussed that the regulation was to come into force the next day only.

The regulation was also meant to include the requirement for visas for East Germans to leave the country, even though those were supposed to be given out to everyone without restrictions.

In fact, even after November 9th, the border between the two Germanys remained manned and travel between the two countries was officially only possible through a (expanded) number of checkpoints. East German border guards even fixed parts of the wall which had been vandalized and opened up.

The border officially remained guarded until next summer, when demolition started in June 1990.

 

[lionking]

A couple of weeks ago I was at the Kansas Cosmosphere with my wife and part of our combined family. They have a piece of wall on display, about a 4 x 8. The thought struck me, none of my kids were alive when that all went down.

We had three kids by then.

As someone who was born, grew up and reached adulthood during the Cold War, when nuclear war was a real threat, that day was one of excitement and wonder to me. I rate Gorbachev as one of the great people of the 20th century.

 

[anglolawyer]

I have a piece of the wall. I bought it on New Year's Eve 1989 at Checkpoint Charlie for three marks from some guys who were in business chipping pieces off and selling them. It is now encased in a block of plastic along with a little plaque. At that time the difference between East and West Berlin was astonishing. East Berlin smelled different, due to the pollution caused by all the Trabbies. Also, due to the grime, coal dust and lack of colour, it appeared to be in Black and White, as if one had been transported back in time to the 40s. It was very weird.

 

[Wirelight]

I was 15 when the wall fell and I remember watching the news in awe. I also knew history was being made and that fascinated me.

 

[angrysoba]

I made a lot of cash selling bits of "the wall" to my gullible classmates.

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I made a lot of cash selling bits of "the wall" to my gullible classmates.

I think there are about 500,000 pieces of the True Cross in circulation.

"Hey, wanna buy the skull of John the Baptist?"

"I thought that was in Notre Dame?"

"That's him as an adult, this is his skull when he was a kid."

"Oh, okay, here's five thousand dollars."

 

[Pianoro]

"Hey, wanna buy the skull of John the Baptist?"

"I thought that was in Notre Dame?"

"That's him as an adult, this is his skull when he was a kid."

"Oh, okay, here's five thousand dollars."

Still, a lot harder to fake for a highschool kid then a piece of concrete.

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Still, a lot harder to fake for a highschool kid then a piece of concrete.

Nah, just dig around behind a Catholic orphanage. Septic tank for starters.

 

[Nick Terry]

In November 1989, I was taking a university course, The Two Germanies since 1945, with Mary Fulbrook. By the time final exams came around, the course was entitled The Two Germanies 1945-1990.

This is actually the first year in nearly a decade when I've not taught about the collapse of the GDR and fall of the Berlin Wall.

 

[MG1962]

We had three kids by then.

As someone who was born, grew up and reached adulthood during the Cold War, when nuclear war was a real threat, that day was one of excitement and wonder to me. I rate Gorbachev as one of the great people of the 20th century.

Absolutely agree with you - I can remember my overriding emotion of the day was relief we had just dogged the nuclear war bullet

 

[lionking]

Absolutely agree with you - I can remember my overriding emotion of the day was relief we had just dogged the nuclear war bullet

My ever practical and accurate wife reminds me we had five kids when the wall came down.

Which is about my brain cell count,.....

 

[rockinkt]

There was quite an effort made to show the East Germans why they should keep it up:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ5rIbnD_P4

 

[Loss Leader]

Going down to dinner in my second year of college. The news said that something happened that nobody thought they'd see in their lifetime. Since, it was Albany local news, I assumed a brown bear had somehow gotten into a car and put it in gear.

 

[SpitfireIX]

Hard to believe it's been a quarter century. 1989 had already been quite a year, and this was the cherry on top.

This was before you were at Purdue, of course, but at the time I was taking Modern Germany with Gordon Mork (may he rest in peace ), and he was actually at a conference in Germany on that day. At the beginning of the first class we had after he got back, he walked in, didn't say a word, and just wrote "Berlin Wall: 1961-1989" on the blackboard. Naturally, he ditched his planned lecture, and we spent the entire class discussing the extraordinary events.

 

[Craig B]

I think there are about 500,000 pieces of the True Cross in circulation.

"Hey, wanna buy the skull of John the Baptist?"

"I thought that was in Notre Dame?"

"That's him as an adult, this is his skull when he was a kid."

"Oh, okay, here's five thousand dollars."

Nah, it's St. Peter we need for that stuff. There are two papal churches in Rome, Vatican and Lateran. Such top churches need skulls of St. Peter, and they both have them.

Are the bones in these boxes, so carefully protected in the very bullseye of Catholic focus, [Vatican] those of Peter? Well, it seems that ten of the boxes hold the remains of domestic animals — goats, sheep, cows, swine, and a chicken.

In another of the boxes rest the mortal remains of a mouse. The other eight boxes hold human remains. There can be no doubt these are the remains of Peter, for an "infallible" pope has declared them to be such. Unfortunately, Pope Paul VI neglected to explain how Peter came to include the bones of a mouse and various farm animals in the inventory of his skeletal remains. Rather makes one curious as to what Peter really looked like in the flesh, doesn't it?

The most precious of Peter's bones found in the Graffiti Wall are the 29 fragments of the Apostle's skull. Note: the 29 pieces of Peter's skull found in the Grafitti Wall are not to be confused with Peter's other skull, which is stored in the Cathedral of St. John Lateran.

http://www.hissheep.org/catholic/peters_bones_and_romes_truth.html

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

This was before you were at Purdue, of course, but at the time I was taking Modern Germany with Gordon Mork (may he rest in peace ), and he was actually at a conference in Germany on that day. At the beginning of the first class we had after he got back, he walked in, didn't say a word, and just wrote "Berlin Wall: 1961-1989" on the blackboard. Naturally, he ditched his planned lecture, and we spent the entire class discussing the extraordinary events.

Sweet. Gordon recruited me for Grad School. I helped his with his website on German Religious History.

 

[FramerDave]

We had three kids by then.

As someone who was born, grew up and reached adulthood during the Cold War, when nuclear war was a real threat, that day was one of excitement and wonder to me. I rate Gorbachev as one of the great people of the 20th century.

There's been a lot made of how Reagan was responsible for the defeat of communism and the fall of the wall, but Gorbachev really deserves the lion's share of the credit for the opening of the wall.

In the days leading up to November 9 Gorbachev and a lot of other leaders from the "socialist brotherlands" were in Berlin helping celebrate the 40th anniversary of the GDR. During the peaceful protests the East Germans chanted "Gorbi hilf uns" or "Gorbi, help us."

It was Gorbachev who saw that, at minimum, there had to be some easing of restrictions on the citizens and it was he who told Honecker that if the GDR government cracked down on the protests with force they would get no support for it from the Soviets.