Thread by @jbhenchman

How the Berlin Wall fell, November 9, 1989

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Egon Krenz had become East Germany's new - and as it turned out, last - dictator after the Politburo deposed Erich Honecker to try to appease protestors demanding reforms.

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The new leader set about to try to reduce the repressive image of the regime, naming Günter Schabowski to the job of press spokesman, and on Thursday, November 9, 1989, the Politburo voted to allow East Germans to travel in a controlled fashion to the West.

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Control was the key word: travelers would first have to apply for and receive permission from the regime, to take effect after border guards had been retrained.

(Photo: border checkpoint at the Brandenburg Gate)

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Schabowski, who had been out of the room during the discussion on the new law, was given a short note - too short - about the decision so he could tell the press.

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Schabowski read the note out loud at his 7pm press conference, stating casually that East Germans would now be permitted to travel to the West. A stunned reporter asked when that would take effect.

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Schabowski hesitated, because the note had no details about that. He shuffled his papers, then answered: "As far as I know, it is effective immediately, without delay." Asked if this meant travel between East Berlin and West Berlin, he again looked at the note, and said yes.

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Finally asked what would happen to the Berlin Wall, he dodged the question, giving a rambling answer about disarmament.

The press conference was shown live in East and West, and the news quickly spread. West German TV announced that East Germany had opened its borders.

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Thousands of East Berliners went to the Wall's six border checkpoints and demanded that the border guards let them through "as Schabowski said we can."

With no instructions and no one willing to order the use of force, at 10:45 pm the first checkpoint was opened.

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At 11:30 pm, the secret police commander ordered all the checkpoints opened. People poured through all night, began climbing on top of the wall, and chipping off pieces of it.

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That weekend, the regime bulldozed new border crossings through the wall, with complete dismantling beginning the following summer as East Germany began to cease to exist.

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Many of Schabowski's colleagues suspected he was a Western agent, but it really seems to have just been a mistake on his part. After the regime fell, he was sentenced to 3 years in prison for his role in the regime's decision to murder people fleeing East Germany.

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He was pardoned after a year due to the remorse he expressed at trial. Until he passed away in 2015, he was a strong critic of his own role in the East German regime and the socialist successor parties in Germany today.

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