{"id":14530,"date":"2019-11-09T14:08:56","date_gmt":"2019-11-09T14:08:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=14530"},"modified":"2026-07-05T17:19:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T17:19:34","slug":"defend-democracy-freedom-and-tolerance-germanys-angela-merkel-pins-symbolic-rose-to-remains-of-the-berlin-wall-and-issues-emotional-call-as-country-marks-the-30th-anniversary-of-the-fall-of-th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2019\/11\/09\/defend-democracy-freedom-and-tolerance-germanys-angela-merkel-pins-symbolic-rose-to-remains-of-the-berlin-wall-and-issues-emotional-call-as-country-marks-the-30th-anniversary-of-the-fall-of-th\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Defend democracy, freedom and tolerance!&#8217; Germany&#8217;s Angela Merkel pins symbolic rose to remains of the Berlin Wall and issues emotional call as country marks the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Cold War relic"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"mol-bullets-with-font\">\n<li class=\"class\"><b>World leaders and spectators are gathering at the Berlin Wall ahead of the 30th anniversary of its toppling<\/b><\/li>\n<li class=\"class\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Europe to &#8216;stand up for democracy and freedom&#8217; at ceremony<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"class\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">Presidents of S<\/span><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">lovakia, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Poland lay flowers at the Visegard Four monument<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"leader_wide\" class=\"adHolder\" data-adverts-ad=\"{&quot;pos&quot;:&quot;leader_wide&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;728x90&quot;,&quot;adUnit&quot;:&quot;dailymail.uk\/dm_dmnews_newsart\/leader_wide&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:[[728,90]],&quot;id&quot;:&quot;leader_wide&quot;,&quot;parentId&quot;:&quot;leader_wide&quot;,&quot;extraZoneOptions&quot;:{}}\" data-google-query-id=\"CNb3kJWl3eUCFSHB5godMy0GRg\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/5765\/dailymail.uk\/dm_dmnews_newsart\/leader_wide_0__container__\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Angela Merkel has urged Europe to defend &#8216;democracy and freedom, human rights and tolerance&#8217; as Germany is today marking 30 years since the Berlin\u00a0Wall fell, a pivotal moment in the events that brought down Communism in eastern Europe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Merkel told political leaders and European guests at a ceremony that such values &#8216;must always be lived out and defended anew,&#8217; warning that they could not be taken for granted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Speaking in the Reconciliation Chapel on the former &#8216;death strip&#8217; that ran alongside the wall, the chancellor said that the barrier that divided communist East from democratic West was &#8216;history&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The German Chancellor, who grew up in East Germany, greeted members of the public as she arrived at\u00a0Bernauer Strasse to symbolically place a rose in a standing section of the wall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The festivities in Berlin are due to culminate with a party at the Brandenburg Gate in the evening featuring the Staatskapelle Berlin orchestra directed by Daniel Barenboim.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Leaders from Germany and other European nations are attending ceremonies on Saturday in Berlin recalling the peaceful protests that piled pressure on East Germany&#8217;s government to allow its citizens free passage to the west on November 9 1989.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">28 years after its construction in August 1961 to stop a flood of defections to the democratic West,\u00a0East Germany was on the brink of bankruptcy\u00a0its productivity 40 per cent lower than West Germany.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">On the night of November 9, 1989, a mistake by a government spokesman claiming that travel between East and West was open &#8216;immediately&#8217; led hundreds of thousands to make the crossing as sections of the wall was torn down around them.<\/p>\n<div class=\"mol-img-group xwArtSplitter\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap fff-pic\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-ed9163a335d7d440\" class=\"blkBorder img-share b-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2019\/11\/09\/11\/20796622-7667599-image-a-24_1573297435218.jpg\" alt=\"Angela Merkel has urged Europe to defend 'democracy' and 'freedom' as Germany is today marking 30 years since the Berlin Wall fell, symbolically marking the start to the collapse of the Soviet Union\" width=\"962\" height=\"760\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"overlay-icon mobile-gallery\">\n<div class=\"mobile-gallery-icon\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Angela Merkel has urged Europe to defend &#8216;democracy&#8217; and &#8216;freedom&#8217; as Germany is today marking 30 years since the Berlin Wall fell, symbolically marking the start to the collapse of the Soviet Union<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mol-img-group xwArtSplitter\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap fff-pic\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-3e26e1ce0df86856\" class=\"blkBorder img-share b-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2019\/11\/09\/11\/20796618-7667599-image-a-29_1573297619206.jpg\" alt=\"Arriving at the main commemoration being held at Bernauer Strasse in the north of the city, Chancellor Merkel stuck a rose into a part of the wall that divided the city for 28 years still stands\" width=\"962\" height=\"641\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"overlay-icon mobile-gallery\">\n<div class=\"mobile-gallery-icon\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Arriving at the main commemoration being held at Bernauer Strasse in the north of the city, Chancellor Merkel stuck a rose into a part of the wall that divided the city for 28 years still stands<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mol-img-group xwArtSplitter\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap fff-pic\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-d5583e54e6dcfb7e\" class=\"blkBorder img-share b-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2019\/11\/09\/11\/20796606-7667599-image-a-44_1573298186296.jpg\" alt=\"European leaders arrive at a section of the Berlin Wall for a symbolically laying of flowers inside a standing section of the Cold War relic\" width=\"962\" height=\"602\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">European leaders arrive at a section of the Berlin Wall for a symbolically laying of flowers inside a standing section of the Cold War relic<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mol-img-group xwArtSplitter\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap fff-pic\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-581fc9613f1e02fd\" class=\"blkBorder img-share b-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2019\/11\/09\/12\/20797688-7667599-image-a-64_1573300985424.jpg\" alt=\"German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Berlin Wall Foundation Director Axel Klausmeier (centre right) walk to the Chapel of Reconciliation, where she told gathered politicians and guests that democratic values 'must always be lived out and defended anew,' warning that they could not be taken for granted\" width=\"962\" height=\"650\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Berlin Wall Foundation Director Axel Klausmeier (centre right) walk to the Chapel of Reconciliation, where she told gathered politicians and guests that democratic values &#8216;must always be lived out and defended anew,&#8217; warning that they could not be taken for granted<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mol-img-group xwArtSplitter\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap fff-pic\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-8b4fac927ab30888\" class=\"blkBorder img-share b-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2019\/11\/09\/12\/20797606-7667599-image-a-68_1573301070242.jpg\" alt=\"Members of the public are invited to stick flowers in remains of the Berlin Wall. Following its partial destruction in 1989, sections of the wall have been prominently used as a canvas for art installations, such as at the West Side Gallery\" width=\"962\" height=\"643\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Members of the public are invited to stick flowers in remains of the Berlin Wall. Following its partial destruction in 1989, sections of the wall have been prominently used as a canvas for art installations, such as at the West Side Gallery<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mol-img-group xwArtSplitter\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap fff-pic\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-f7448901660331b9\" class=\"blkBorder img-share b-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2019\/11\/09\/10\/20796610-0-image-a-1_1573296577442.jpg\" alt=\"The presidents of Slovakia, Zuzana Caputova, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary joined German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the Visegard Four monument, which commemorates the country's help in the unification of Germany\" width=\"962\" height=\"640\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">The presidents of Slovakia, Zuzana Caputova, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary joined German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the Visegard Four monument, which commemorates the country&#8217;s help in the unification of Germany<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mol-img-group xwArtSplitter\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap fff-pic\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-b37a7bfec1cfb19c\" class=\"blkBorder img-share b-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2019\/11\/09\/12\/20797788-7667599-image-a-72_1573301305632.jpg\" alt=\"West Berliners crowd in front of the Berlin Wall early 11 November 1989 as they watch East German border guards demolishing a section of the wall in order to open a new crossing point between East and West Berlin, near the Potsdamer Square\" width=\"962\" height=\"641\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">West Berliners crowd in front of the Berlin Wall early 11 November 1989 as they watch East German border guards demolishing a section of the wall in order to open a new crossing point between East and West Berlin, near the Potsdamer Square<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mol-img-group xwArtSplitter\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap fff-pic\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-601632490b0715d3\" class=\"blkBorder img-share b-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2019\/11\/09\/12\/20797786-7667599-image-a-69_1573301293233.jpg\" alt=\"People from East Germany greet citizens of West Germany at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on December 22, 1989. On November 09, Gunter Schabowski, the East Berlin Communist party boss, declared that starting from midnight, East Germans would be free to leave the country, without permission\" width=\"962\" height=\"641\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">People from East Germany greet citizens of West Germany at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on December 22, 1989. On November 09, Gunter Schabowski, the East Berlin Communist party boss, declared that starting from midnight, East Germans would be free to leave the country, without permission<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The presidents of Slovakia, Zuzana Caputova, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary joined German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the Visegard Four monument, which commemorates the country&#8217;s help in the unification of Germany.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;Together with our friends, we remember with deep gratitude the events 30 years ago,&#8217; Steinmeier said during a ceremony at the Bernauer Strasse Berlin Wall Memorial, which was also attended by Chancellor Angela Merkel and heads of state from Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;Without the courage and the will to freedom of the Poles and Hungarians, the Czechs and Slovaks, the peaceful revolutions in Eastern Europe and Germany&#8217;s reunification would not have been possible,&#8217; Steinmeier said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">During the ceremony, Steinmeier and the presidents of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic placed roses in a small gap in the remains of the wall at the memorial.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In August 1989, Hungarian border guards for the first time allowed people from East Germany to cross freely into Austria, paving the way for the fall of the Berlin Wall three months later and with it the end of the Iron Curtain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Steinmeier pointed out, however, that the historic event did not mark the &#8220;end of history&#8221; as U.S. historian Francis Fukuyama stated. The struggle of political systems had continued and the future was more uncertain than ever before, he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;Liberal democracy is being challenged and questioned,&#8217; Steinmeier said. That&#8217;s why Germany and its European allies had to fight every day for a peaceful and united Europe with each country having to do its part to overcome differences, he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">His message was echoed by Merkel in a brief speech during a commemorative service at the memorial&#8217;s chapel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"moduleFull mol-video\">\n<div class=\"item\">\n<div id=\"p-41\" class=\"news x-wide video_carousel_container\" data-track-module=\"vm-5709780053386310553^extra_wide\" data-track-selector=\"a.videoLink\" data-track-type=\"cl\" data-track-pos=\"static\">\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mol-img-group xwArtSplitter\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap fff-pic\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-d9050b5d792329d\" class=\"blkBorder img-share b-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2019\/11\/09\/12\/20798138-0-image-a-90_1573302697573.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"962\" height=\"649\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">German Chancellor Angela Merkel places a symbolic candle at a memorial to the Berlin Wall<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mol-img-group xwArtSplitter\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap fff-pic\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-f921e1f8c7aef629\" class=\"blkBorder img-share b-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2019\/11\/09\/12\/20798140-7667599-image-m-92_1573302704556.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"962\" height=\"767\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">A man adds his candle to hundreds lighting up the memorial at the Berlin Wall, dedicated to those who lost their lives during the Cold War era of Germany<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mol-img-group xwArtSplitter\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap fff-pic\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-c8ef393921a50079\" class=\"blkBorder img-share b-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2019\/11\/09\/11\/20796612-7667599-image-a-40_1573298122623.jpg\" alt=\"German Chancellor Angela Merkel shakes hands with members of the public during a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall\" width=\"962\" height=\"644\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">German Chancellor Angela Merkel shakes hands with members of the public during a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mol-img-group xwArtSplitter\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap fff-pic\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-e94e0323e57c476f\" class=\"blkBorder img-share b-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2019\/11\/09\/12\/20798094-7667599-image-m-94_1573302837025.jpg\" alt=\"German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (centre) attend the celebrations of the 30th anniversary along with his\u00a0Czech Republic counterpart\u00a0Milos Zeman\" width=\"962\" height=\"664\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (centre) attend the celebrations of the 30th anniversary along with his\u00a0Czech Republic counterpart\u00a0Milos Zeman<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mol-img-group xwArtSplitter\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap fff-pic\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-7e602515de90f3b5\" class=\"blkBorder img-share b-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2019\/11\/09\/11\/20796614-7667599-image-a-26_1573297500924.jpg\" alt=\"Leaders from Germany and other European nations are attending ceremonies on Saturday in Berlin recalling the peaceful protests that piled pressure on East Germany's government to allow its citizens free passage to the west on November 9 1989\" width=\"962\" height=\"663\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Leaders from Germany and other European nations are attending ceremonies on Saturday in Berlin recalling the peaceful protests that piled pressure on East Germany&#8217;s government to allow its citizens free passage to the west on November 9 1989<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;The values on which Europe is founded &#8212; freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law, respect for human rights &#8212; are anything but self-evident. And they have to be filled with live and must be defended again and again,&#8217; she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">On Friday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that her leadership style has been partly shaped by her upbringing in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR).<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;For 35 years, I experienced the official opinion as different from my own,&#8217; Merkel told German newspaper S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung, referring to the communist leadership of the former East Germany.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;I was alone with my opinion, or shared it with very few people. That&#8217;s why it does not bother me when others see things differently.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;Life in the GDR was almost comfortable in a certain way sometimes, because there were some things one simply couldn&#8217;t influence.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Beyond the cracks surfacing in the global arena, a new chasm is opening up within Germany itself with the far-right gaining a strong foothold in the former communist states.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Underlining the problem herself, Merkel said those who thought the differences between the former communist east and the capitalist west could be ironed out earlier, sees &#8216;that it would take half a century or more.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Debate has also opened up more intensively over the differences between the east and west as &#8216;nationalist and protectionist trends have gained ground worldwide, thereby fuelling more discussion too form a national perspective,&#8217; Merkel told Sueddeutsche Zeitung.<\/p>\n<div class=\"mol-img-group xwArtSplitter\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap fff-pic\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-d8736947badb599\" class=\"blkBorder img-share b-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2019\/11\/09\/12\/20798020-7667599-image-a-88_1573302468583.jpg\" alt=\"'The values on which Europe is founded -- freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law, respect for human rights -- are anything but self-evident. And they have to be filled with live and must be defended again and again,' Merkel said.\" width=\"962\" height=\"637\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">&#8216;The values on which Europe is founded &#8212; freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law, respect for human rights &#8212; are anything but self-evident. And they have to be filled with live and must be defended again and again,&#8217; Merkel said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mol-img-group xwArtSplitter\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap fff-pic\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-8a6c4648d2a00152\" class=\"blkBorder img-share b-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2019\/11\/09\/12\/20797912-7667599-image-a-79_1573301843520.jpg\" alt=\"Young people demonstrate with banners for freedom in the world and in Europe on the sidelines of the central commemoration, with one reading: 'We want that Europe be again for the whole world the luminous face of audacity, wit and liberty'\" width=\"962\" height=\"641\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Young people demonstrate with banners for freedom in the world and in Europe on the sidelines of the central commemoration, with one reading: &#8216;We want that Europe be again for the whole world the luminous face of audacity, wit and liberty&#8217;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mol-img-group xwArtSplitter\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap fff-pic\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-4e68d3b3fbe0964\" class=\"blkBorder img-share b-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2019\/11\/09\/12\/20796608-7667599-image-a-84_1573301984024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"962\" height=\"643\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">French chocolate maker Patrick Roger (left) and one of his employee break a wall he made with chocolate to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mol-img-group xwArtSplitter\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap fff-pic\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-8e376657d972b7ce\" class=\"blkBorder img-share b-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2019\/11\/09\/12\/20797916-7667599-image-a-86_1573302017850.jpg\" alt=\"Amid the sombre mood, a serious political programme is planned for Saturday, with central European presidents to headline the official ceremonies\" width=\"962\" height=\"619\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Amid the sombre mood, a serious political programme is planned for Saturday, with central European presidents to headline the official ceremonies<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Amid the sombre mood, a serious political programme is planned for Saturday, with central European presidents to headline the official ceremonies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">They will join Merkel and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to mark their countries&#8217; &#8216;contribution &#8230; to the peaceful revolution&#8217; that led to the collapse of the communist regime.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Merkel will speak at the Chapel of Reconciliation, which stands on a stretch of the former Berlin Wall border strip where local people jumped from windows the day the wall was built to escape the communist East, while others later dug tunnels towards the West.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Steinmeier will also make a speech at the Brandenburg Gate in the evening, before a series of concerts including one by the prestigious Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">On November 9, 1989, East German border guards, overwhelmed by large crowds, threw open the gates to West Berlin, allowing free passage for the first time since it was built.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The momentous event would end up bringing the communist regime crashing down and led to German reunification a year later.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\"><span class=\"mol-style-medium\">Blunder that brought down the Berlin Wall: Thirty years on, minute by minute account of the day border guards were caught ogling a waitress, a young Angela Merkel walked into history and a lazy apparatchik who triggered it all<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">On August 13, 1961, the government of East Germany gave the order to seal its border with West Berlin. The reason? Too many of its citizens were leaving for the more prosperous West Germany.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">On a single day the previous week, nearly 2,000 had left the German Democratic Republic (GDR) for good.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Berliners on both sides wept as 7,000 soldiers erected barricades and barbed wire, blocked almost 200 roads and bricked up doors and windows in apartment blocks that faced the border. The 96-mile wall that followed became the most potent symbol of the Cold War.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">But, by 1989, East Germany was on the brink of bankruptcy, its productivity 40 per cent lower than West Germany. And, as glasnost \u2014 the policy of openness espoused by Russia\u2019s president, Mikhail Gorbachev \u2014 took hold, East Germany\u2019s Politburo, the executive body of its Communist Party, found itself under increased pressure to reform.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">When Gorbachev visited the GDR in October 1989, demonstrators on the streets shouted: \u2018Gorby, help us! Gorby, help us!\u2019<\/p>\n<div class=\"mol-img-group xwArtSplitter\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap fff-pic\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-1941935cb4629533\" class=\"blkBorder img-share b-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2019\/11\/09\/11\/20781450-7667599-Confusion_East_German_border_guards_stand_in_front_of_the_Brande-a-47_1573299092585.jpg\" alt=\"Confusion: East German border guards stand in front of the Brandenburg Gate as the wall begins to be breached\" width=\"962\" height=\"642\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Confusion: East German border guards stand in front of the Brandenburg Gate as the wall begins to be breached<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">November 9, 1989<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">Midnight<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Day 10,316 of the Berlin Wall. This is the fourth version of the structure dividing the city; it is currently made up of concrete sections originally designed for storing liquid manure on East German farms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Since 1961, more than 5,000 people have successfully escaped from the GDR \u2014 half of them East German border guards. But 138 people have died trying to flee to freedom.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The Western side of The Wall is covered in graffiti and one of the most prominent slogans is: \u2018Die Mauer Muss Weg\u2019 \u2014 \u2018The Wall Must Go\u2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">7am<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">It is a mild late-autumn morning in Berlin and the smell of sulphur from the crumbling East German factories hangs in the air. Beneath the feet of the GDR guards making their regular morning patrols are the remains of more than 40 escape tunnels.<\/p>\n<div class=\"mol-img-group floatXWHalfRHS\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap fff-pic\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-85144006e870c290\" class=\"blkBorder img-share b-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2019\/11\/09\/11\/20781400-7667599-East_German_border_guards_look_on_as_the_wall_is_breached_It_s_e-a-49_1573299092587.jpg\" alt=\"East German border guards look on as the wall is breached. It\u00bfs estimated that, within three days of the breaching of The Wall, three million East Germans visited West Berlin\" width=\"470\" height=\"719\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">East German border guards look on as the wall is breached. It\u2019s estimated that, within three days of the breaching of The Wall, three million East Germans visited West Berlin<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Some were made by West Germans trying to save friends and relatives, but most began in the East, dug by people of all ages.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In May 1962, over 16 days, a 12-strong group of mostly East German pensioners dug their way to freedom. Their tunnel was 104 ft long and just under 6 ft high. Asked why it was so tall, one of the escapees said: \u2018We wanted to walk to freedom with our wives, comfortably and unbowed.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">8am<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The morning commute begins for Germans on both sides of The Wall. West Berlin has smart shops and well-lit streets, while East Berlin\u2019s commuters are walking past bomb sites and buildings still riddled with World War II bullet holes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">10am<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Since the border with Czechoslovakia was opened on November 1, East Germany has been haemorrhaging people using that route to get to West Germany.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In East Berlin, hospitals are short of doctors and some schools have closed because so many teachers have left their jobs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">This morning, the GDR newspaper Neues Deutschland pleads with its readers: \u2018We beg you, stay in our homeland, stay with us.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In the Ministry of the Interior building, close to the most famous of the seven border crossings, Checkpoint Charlie, four officials are meeting to draw up new travel regulations on behalf of the East German Politburo to deal with the exodus via Czechoslovakia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">4pm<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">At the HQ of the East German Communist Party, chiefs agree to the new regulations; travel will be allowed to West Germany, but only after an application has been lodged. Visas, with a passport, will be granted for visits of up to 30 days.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The government knows that only a small proportion of the population has a passport and a new one takes at least a month to process. They expect orderly queues to start at passport offices in the morning. The Wall will remain closed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">5.40pm<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">East German leader Egon Krenz hands over the new travel policy document to Gunter Schabowski, the government\u2019s spokesman. He will inform the public about the new rules at a live Press conference this evening.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Krenz is confident that the new system will prevent a mass exodus and ensure some state control.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018Here, friend, this is something that will do us a power of good,\u2019 Krenz says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">6pm<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The large room at East Berlin\u2019s International Press Centre is packed with the world\u2019s media. Schabowski welcomes everyone, but he is tired and distracted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">He wasn\u2019t in this afternoon\u2019s meeting of the Communist Party chiefs and has not read the full document \u2014 he\u2019s only skim-read it in the car on the way here.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Schabowski doesn\u2019t know about the vital waiting period while applications are processed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">He has a cavalier attitude to his daily Press conferences and believes the only qualities you need are \u2018to be able to speak German and read a text without mistakes\u2019. The Press conference starts with dull news about the latest ministerial appointments and administrative reforms.<\/p>\n<div class=\"mol-img-group xwArtSplitter\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap fff-pic\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-18e0e34a8c0f132e\" class=\"blkBorder img-share b-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2019\/11\/09\/11\/20781884-7667599-Government_spokesman_Gunter_Schabowski_on_November_9_1989_at_Eas-a-51_1573299092606.jpg\" alt=\"Government spokesman Gunter Schabowski on November 9 1989 at East Berlin\u00bfs International Press Centre\" width=\"962\" height=\"628\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Government spokesman Gunter Schabowski on November 9 1989 at East Berlin\u2019s International Press Centre<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">6.30pm<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">At Checkpoint Charlie, East German guards are using binoculars to ogle an attractive waitress serving coffee and beer in Cafe Adler on the other side of the border. It\u2019s part of their daily routine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Astrid Benner, 29, knows she is being watched but doesn\u2019t mind \u2014 in fact, she feels sorry for them. \u2018Over there it was so sad,\u2019 she said looking back many years later.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">6.53pm<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Schabowski finally turns to the new travel policy. Sweating under the television lights, he describes it as best he can.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018We have decided today, er, to implement a regulation that allows every citizen of the GDR, er, to, er, leave the GDR through any of the border crossings.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Journalists shout questions asking if that means leaving without a passport and \u2014 crucially \u2014 when it takes effect. Schabowski scratches his head and shuffles through his papers. \u2018That comes into effect, to my knowledge, immediately, right away.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">A German newspaper reporter asks: \u2018Does that apply also to West Berlin?\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Schabowski shrugs his shoulders and reads from the document: \u2018Permanent exit can take place via all border crossings from the GDR to the FRG and West Berlin.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The Berlin Wall has been opened by mistake \u2014 earlier than the Politburo intended.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018It was a simple cock-up,\u2019 one party official said later.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">7.01pm<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">As the Press conference ends, at the largest of the border crossings, Bornholmer Strasse, the officer in charge, Lieutenant-Colonel Harald Jager, shouts at the television: \u2018Bull****!\u2019 Furious at Schabowski\u2019s inaccurate statements.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Jager is part of the Ministry for State Security, the Stasi, and he calls his boss, Colonel Rudi Ziegenhorn, at its operational HQ to find out what is going on.<\/p>\n<div class=\"mol-img-group xwArtSplitter\">\n<div class=\"mol-img\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap fff-pic\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-54fc0538b8db3a09\" class=\"blkBorder img-share b-loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2019\/11\/09\/11\/20781456-7667599-Thousands_of_people_from_the_East_and_West_of_Berlin_celebrate_t-a-54_1573299092629.jpg\" alt=\"Thousands of people from the East and West of Berlin celebrate the opening of the Berlin Wall in November 11 1989\" width=\"962\" height=\"684\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Thousands of people from the East and West of Berlin celebrate the opening of the Berlin Wall in November 11 1989<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Ziegenhorn tells him nothing has changed. But Jager, who began work as a border policeman aged 18 and had helped in the construction of The Wall, is convinced something momentous is about to happen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">7.05pm<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The Associated Press news agency headline is: \u2018The GDR is opening its borders.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">7.15pm<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">With remarkable speed, 80 East Berliners arrive at the checkpoints at Invalidenstrasse, Heinrich-Heine-Strasse and Bornholmer Strasse and ask the guards\u2019 permission to cross the border.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">They are told they need a passport and a visa and to come back tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In Cafe Adler by Checkpoint Charlie, waitress Astrid hears the news on the radio and calls the cafe\u2019s owner, Albrecht Rau. \u2018You have to get here because I\u2019m totally alone and thousands of people may be coming at any moment! This is the first place they\u2019ll reach!\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In East Berlin, a democracy campaigner called Aram Radomski walks into a bar where he knows his friends will be.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">He\u2019s just watched the Press conference on television and wants to test out what Schabowski\u2019s phrase \u2018right away\u2019 means.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">He urges them to come with him straight away to the nearest border crossing. Only his fellow campaigner Siggi Schefke agrees to come.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Radomski shouts as they leave: \u2018If we are not back in two hours, we are in the West!\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">7.50pm<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">At Checkpoint Charlie, Cafe Adler owner Albrecht is carrying a tray with coffee, sparkling wine and glasses towards the East German guards. Astrid and some of his customers have come with him to offer support.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">As they cross the painted white line between East and West, two GDR guards come out of their hut. Astrid offers them champagne, but they tell her to go back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">She says: \u2018But we have to celebrate this exciting day, don\u2019t you want to celebrate with us?\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">They reply: \u2018No, no, we don\u2019t want that, please go back.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Albrecht and Astrid retreat across the line and share a drink with the West Berliners who have been watching their daring gesture.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">8pm<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">West German television station ARD announces that \u2018this is an historic day\u2019. The newsreader Hanns Joachim Friedrichs jumps the gun and says: \u2018The GDR is opening its borders. The gates in the Berlin Wall stand open.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">8.15pm<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">At the Bornholmer Strasse crossing, the number of people is now in the hundreds and things are getting tense.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Lieutenant-Colonel Jager is concerned his men might shoot into the crowd or that the crowd might try to grab their weapons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">He has no idea what is happening at the other border crossings as only Stasi HQ is able to communicate to all seven checkpoints.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">8.47pm<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The East German government Politburo meeting that started this afternoon finally ends. They have no idea what happened at Schabowski\u2019s Press conference or what is occurring at the border.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">9pm<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Democracy campaigners Radomski and Schefke are at Bornholmer Strasse and demanding loudly, along with scores of others, to be allowed to pass. They have Western money with them in case they are successful.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In the nearby barracks, Lieutenant-Colonel Jager is on the phone to Stasi HQ asking yet again what to do. They tell him to pull the most aggressive members out of the crowd and let them pass through to the West, calling it the \u2018let-off steam solution\u2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Jager is sceptical, but agrees to carry out the plan. Radomski and Schefke are among those plucked from the crowd and their papers are stamped. The stamp is placed deliberately across their photo ID \u2014 thereby invalidating their citizenship. This is also part of the \u2018let-off steam solution\u2019 \u2014 a trick to keep troublemakers out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">As Radomski and Schefke make their way to the West, they don\u2019t realise that they are no longer East German citizens.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">9.10pm<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Now in West Berlin, a stunned Radomski and Schefke jump in a taxi. The driver can tell by their old-fashioned clothes that they are from the East and tries to kick them out as their currency will be worthless. They hastily produce their Western notes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Radomski and Schefke ask to be taken to the house of a friend of Schefke\u2019s, whom he met in Hungary. They pay the driver and tell him: \u2018Go back to that bridge, you\u2019ll earn a lot of money tonight!\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">9.30pm<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In the American hut at Checkpoint Charlie, the phone is constantly ringing. It is listed in the phone book and radio and television stations around the world want to know what is going on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The most popular request to the guards is: \u2018Tell us what you can see out of the window.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The Americans can see about 1,000 people on their side of the border and about 100 on the other side. The GDR guards are pushing them away from the white line.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">10pm<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl has just finished a state dinner on the first day of a six-day visit to Poland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Rumours of the chaos in Berlin have reached him and he calls his media adviser Eduard Ackermann in Bonn who says excitedly: \u2018Mr Chancellor, as we speak, The Wall is falling!\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018Are you sure?\u2019 Kohl says, and jokingly asks Ackermann if he\u2019s been drinking.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The \u2018let-off steam solution\u2019 is going badly wrong; it is merely encouraging people to shout more aggressively to be let through.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">An East German couple who wanted only a quick look at West Berlin have come back to return to their children who are fast asleep at home. But their IDs have been stamped across their photo and the border guards refuse to let them pass.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Unable to placate the distraught parents, the guards summon Lieutenant-Colonel Jager, who tells the couple that he will make an exception in their case, and lets them through.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Jager is becoming increasingly disillusioned with what he\u2019s being asked to do.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">10.10pm<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Stasi official Erich Mielke rings GDR leader Krenz to brief him on the chaos by The Wall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Krenz faces a choice: to shut the border by bringing in tanks, or to open the checkpoints to let things run their course. He decides to do nothing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Since November 7, the Stasi has been burning sensitive documents, especially those that identify their large network of informers among the East German population.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In Warsaw, Chancellor Kohl\u2019s aides toast the news from home with the only wine available, a present from the Poles of a bottle of Crimean sparkling wine, the Soviet equivalent of champagne.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">10.30pm<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The state-run East German television news makes an appeal for those citizens who wish to travel to first attend passport and registration offices and make an official application.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018Trips have to be applied for!\u2019 the presenter says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">But most viewers are tuned to West German television to find out what is going on. Scores of dirty and unreliable Trabant and Wartburg cars have been left in the streets around the border with their engines running.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">11pm<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The East German army has been placed on high alert. Meanwhile, at Checkpoint Charlie, the crowds have become so large on the Western side that any movement is impossible, but the American border regiments decide not to clear the area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">As one officer says: \u2018We need to just let this happen. This is a moment for the German people.\u2019<\/p>\n<div>\n<div id=\"p-69\" class=\"related-carousel with-fb-or-tw news half\" data-track-module=\"am-related_carousel^related_carousel\" data-track-selector=\".rotator-panels a:not([class*=external])\" data-dm-rotator-rotate=\"false\" data-track-pos=\"static\" data-preferred-shared-network-enabled=\"\" data-dm-rotator-auto-init=\"\" data-dm-rotator-active-class=\"active\" data-dm-rotator-page-count=\"1.0\" data-dm-social-article-auto-init=\"\" data-dm-rotator-page-size=\"1\">\n<div class=\"rotator bdrcc\">\n<div class=\"rotator-title\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"moduleFull mol-video\">\n<div class=\"item\">\n<div id=\"p-76\" class=\"news x-wide video_carousel_container\" data-track-module=\"vm-8333585942511464872^extra_wide\" data-track-selector=\"a.videoLink\" data-track-type=\"cl\" data-track-pos=\"static\">\n<div class=\"xwv-related-videos-container-4 rotator news\">\n<div class=\"xwv-navigator\">\n<div class=\"video_carousel_title bdrcc\">\n<div class=\"rotator-title\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The section of The Wall by the Brandenburg Gate has a wide, flat top rather than barbed wire, so East Germans are able to clamber on top of it, their risky exploits illuminated by lights from television cameras.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Scores of people are dancing and chanting, cheered on by others wearing pyjamas and dressing gowns.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">At the border crossing on Bornholmer Strasse, Lieutenant-Colonel Jager has seen enough.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Thousands of his fellow citizens are chanting: \u2018Open the gate! Open the gate!\u2019 Someone pushes one of his customs officers who immediately shoves them back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Although people shout: \u2018No violence! No violence!\u2019 Jager is increasingly concerned that his men might be attacked, so he calls his commanding officer, Colonel Ziegenhorn, and tells him bluntly: \u2018I am going to end all controls and let the people out.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Ziegenhorn protests, but Jager hangs up then orders the gate to be opened.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">As two of his men start to push the barrier, the crowd surges forward and does the job for them. Some walk but many run towards the West where they are met by West Berliners with outstretched arms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">11.40pm<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">East German leader Krenz is on the phone to the government\u2019s official spokesman Schabowski, whose Press conference was the cause of the evening\u2019s historic events. Krenz reassures him: \u2018The ones who are leaving today, they will come back.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">At Bornholmer Strasse, Lieutenant-Colonel Jager is close to tears as he watches the crowds stream past him towards the West. One of his guards, Helmut Stoss, is thinking: \u2018Why have I been standing here for the past 20 years?\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">11.59pm<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">At Checkpoint Charlie, crowds on either side of the barrier are calling to each other.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In the East, they shout: \u2018Let us go! Let us go!\u2019 and in the West they reply: \u2018Come! Come! Come!\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In Cafe Adler, waitress Astrid can hear the shouting and see the powerless GDR guards watching the crowds with their binoculars.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018They didn\u2019t know what to do so just kept doing that,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Gunter Moll, the officer in charge on the GDR side, walks to the pedestrian gate and says matter-of-factly: \u2018Open it.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">November 10, 1989<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">Midnight<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Lieutenant-Colonel Jager calls his wife and tells her that he won\u2019t be home until the morning as he has opened the checkpoint. \u2018You\u2019re kidding!\u2019 she laughs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">12.02am<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">At Cafe Adler, a man bursts in shouting: \u2018I\u2019m the first! I\u2019m the first!\u2019 All the customers burst into applause. He asks Astrid if she will mark his hand with the ink stamp that all cafes put on their bills once they\u2019ve been paid; he needs proof that he\u2019s actually been to the West.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">After drinking a beer, the man leaves proudly with a stamp on the back of his hand that says: \u2018Cafe Adler Friedrichstrasse 206 1000 Berlin 61 Tel: 030\/2518965\u2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">12.15am<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">At the Brandenburg Gate, East German guards turn a fire hose on the people on top of The Wall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The hose is not very powerful as it is full of holes, but most of the soaked revellers are forced down. One young man with an umbrella remains defiant.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">At the Sonnenallee checkpoint, the guards call Stasi HQ to say they are \u2018opening everything\u2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">All the border crossings are now open.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">1am<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The American guards at Checkpoint Charlie watch the East Berliners approach the white line, then pause and take a deep breath as they cross.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">One of the many thousands of East Germans who have made it across the border is a 35-year-old woman named Angela Merkel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">She was on her way home from the Central Institute for Physical Chemistry when she heard the news. Merkel is heading for a phone box to call her family to tell them she is in West Berlin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In 16 years\u2019 time, Angela Merkel will be Chancellor of a united Germany.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">2am<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">CafE Adler has closed as it has run out of beer and champagne. Sightseers are arriving from as far away as Denmark and Austria to take part in this historic moment. The streets are packed with people playing music from radios and tape machines, blowing alpine horns and sharing flasks of coffee.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">One of the most popular songs being played is Looking For Freedom by American actor David Hasselhoff, which had been No 1 in West Germany for eight weeks earlier that year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Next month, on New Year\u2019s Eve, Hasselhoff will sing the song suspended from a crane high above the Brandenburg Gate while being cheered by a huge crowd.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">3.20am<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">East Berliners are walking as if in a trance down one of West Berlin\u2019s main shopping streets, Kurfurstendamm, amazed at the goods on display.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The people from the GDR are easy to spot in their plain shoes and old-fashioned coats and hats.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Meanwhile, the Stasi has had enough of the people around the Brandenburg Gate and call in army reservists to help clear them away.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">5am<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In Potsdamer Platz, Berliners on the western side of The Wall hear the sound of electric drills and sledge-hammers. Soon holes start to appear in the concrete.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Hundreds of Berliners from both East and West arrive with hammers and chisels to get their own Cold War souvenir, earning the nickname \u2018wallpeckers\u2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The watchtowers on The Wall are now empty.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">10am<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In London, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is holding an impromptu Press conference outside 10 Downing Street.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">A television reporter asks for her reaction to the events in Berlin. She replies: \u2018I think it is a great day for freedom.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\u2018I watched the scenes on television last night and again this morning because I felt one ought not only to hear about them, but see them because you see the joy on people\u2019s faces and you see what freedom means to them; it makes you realise that you cannot stifle or suppress people\u2019s desire for liberty and I hope that they will be a prelude to the Berlin Wall coming down.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Privately, Mrs Thatcher had been horrified by scenes in the West German parliament the previous evening, when politicians all stood to sing Deutschland Uber Alles when they heard the news from Berlin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">New graffiti has already appeared on the Wall. \u2018Die Mauer Muss Weg\u2019 \u2014 \u2018The Wall Must Go\u2019 has been replaced by \u2018Die Mauer Ist Weg\u2019 \u2014 \u2018The Wall Is Gone\u2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In East Berlin, the Stasi is busy compiling a report, which includes complaints from its border guards. One guard said simply: \u2018I do not understand the world any more.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><span class=\"mol-style-bold\">Aftermath<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">It\u2019s estimated that, within three days of the breaching of The Wall, three million East Germans visited West Berlin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Change came rapidly. In July 1990, East Germans started using the Deutschmark as their currency, and on October 3 that year, the country was reunited.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Some sections of The Wall were sold at auction as contemporary art and hundreds of tons were used as rubble in road building.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Within two years, all that remained of The Wall were a few small sections that were preserved as monuments.<\/p>\n<p>source:dailymail<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>World leaders and spectators are gathering at the Berlin Wall ahead of the 30th anniversary of its toppling German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Europe to &#8216;stand up for democracy and freedom&#8217; at ceremony Presidents of Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Poland lay flowers at the Visegard Four monument Angela Merkel has urged Europe to 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