The Fall of the Berlin Wall by 50 minutes

Author:50 minutes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: 50Minutes.com
Published: 2016-11-27T16:00:00+00:00

The West German 10.45pm news announced that the gates of the Berlin Wall had been opened. While this was not in fact the case, it spurred on a new influx of Berliners at border posts. At 11.30pm, the passport service manager at the Bornholmer Straße border post took the decision to open the barriers and let everyone through, fearing if he did not there would be bloodshed. In the following hour, almost 20 000 people crossed the border. More border posts were opened at around midnight.

Arrival of Trabants 601 cars in East Berlin.

A parade of people on foot and little Trabants 601 (cars produced in the GDR) arrived in East Berlin. They were greeted with champagne and Coca-Cola. East and West Berliners celebrated together for the rest of the night. Thousands flooded towards the Brandenburg Gate and Pariser Platz, which had been blocked off within the no man’s land since 1961, with both East and West Berliners climbing onto the Wall. Hundreds of people danced on it, while others attacked it with pickaxes and chisels. Most of the visitors went back to East Berlin in the early hours of the morning.

How was it supposed to turn out?

East Germany could not avoid reopening its borders, however the aim was to uphold order and balance the numbers of those entering and leaving where possible. For those who drafted the law, the important thing was to maintain the formal application process required to leave the country. Those who wished to do so still needed a passport, and since only some people had one, the administrative delay this engendered would stagger the numbers of people leaving. The law was scheduled to come into force at 4am the next morning while everyone was still asleep. This was supposed to leave enough time to take all necessary measures at border posts.

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